In an article published on January 11, 2023, in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, Leonardo Trasande from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York City, United States, and co-authors calculated the disease burden and cost of chemicals used in all types of plastic for the year 2018.
Specifically, the authors considered a certain set of plastic chemicals, namely polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), phthalates, bisphenols, and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and researched the fraction of these chemicals used in the production of plastics. In previous studies, the authors estimated the cost of exposure from all uses of these chemicals such as bisphenol A (FPF reported), phthalates (FPF reported), and PFAS (FPF reported). Therefore, they could use a subset of these data to determine the fraction of plastics-related costs. They focused on the disease burden from endocrine-disrupting effects such as premature birth, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
The outcome of the calculation indicates that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) cost the US an estimated $250 billion in increased healthcare costs in 2018. These costs correspond to 1.22% of the Gross Domestic Product. The largest drivers of social costs were PBDEs at $159 billion, followed by phthalates at $66.7 billion and PFAS at $22.4 billion.
A report published by the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health in 2023 estimated an even higher cost of $920 billion from the US population’s exposure to EDCs and neurotoxic plastic additives in 2015 (FPF reported). Transande and co-authors highlight the discrepancy in both assessments and point to a likely difference in applied methods or estimates used.
The scientists emphasize that policy initiatives address chemicals in plastics, and highlight the global plastics treaty, which is currently being negotiated (FPF reported), as important for supporting such policy initiatives. If the plastic treaty addresses the full plastic life cycle and targets chemicals of concern used in plastics’ manufacture, societal benefits “are substantial, as reduced exposures will lead to saving in health-care costs due to lower disease burdens.”
Since March 2022 when UN member states began negotiations on an international plastics treaty to end plastic pollution (FPF reported), several publications have highlighted the diverse effects that the plastics supply chain has on human health and the environment (FPF reported) and have provided recommendations on how to integrate concerns about chemicals contained in plastics within the treaty (FPF reported).
Importantly, and transparently communicated in the article by Trasande et al., the study only considered a small subset (i.e., EDCs) of the over 3,000 chemicals of concern present in plastics (FPF reported). For instance, a high percentage of plastic chemicals are known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction (CMRs), with cancers and related endpoints not accounted for in the present study. Indeed only few diseases associated with EDCs are taken into account, which is why the actual disease burden and health costs associated with plastic chemicals are likely much higher.
Health costs have also been calculated for areas outside the US, such as for female reproductive health in the EU due to EDCs (FPF reported), for European Economic Area member countries due to PFAS exposure (FPF reported), and globally due to exposure to environmental chemicals in general (FPF reported).
Reference
Trasande, L. et al. (2023). “Chemicals used in plastic materials: An estimate of the attributable disease burden and costs in the United States.” Journal of the Endocrine Society. DOI: 10.1210/jendso/bvad163
Read more
CNN Health (January 11, 2023). “Plastic chemicals linked to $249 billion in US health care costs in just one year, study finds.” Sandee LaMotte
