On October 10, 2023, the Australia-based Minderoo Foundation, Perth, published an article in the journal Environment International, in which Louise Margaret Goodes and her 16 co-authors performed a systematic evidence mapping to outline the potential human health effects that can develop when exposed to the chemicals and micro- and nanoplastics associated with plastics. The data included in the interactive Plastic Health Map are freely accessible, and together with the report point out knowledge gaps as well as policy and research recommendations.
To create the Map, the authors searched Medline and Embase databases for peer-reviewed studies in English published between 1960 and 2021 focusing on the human health effects of “plastic-associated particles/chemicals measured and detected in bio-samples.” By “plastic-associated particles” they refer to micro- and nanoplastics, and “plastic-associated chemicals” to the polymers and selected plastic additives, namely plasticizers, flame retardants, bisphenols, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Of the 100,949 identified articles, 3,587 met the inclusion criteria. From these articles, data were extracted on the study design and population (e.g., country, age, sex), exposure (e.g., single or multiple exposures), and associated health effects (e.g., clinical, biochemical). The study protocol was published in February 2023 (FPF reported).
The database includes 1,202 plastic additives and 355 polymers. Users such as researchers, policymakers, and any other interested person can filter the dashboard by chemical and chemical class, population group, exposure, health outcomes, and many more. This also allows one to answer specific research questions and identify gaps.
The most investigated plastic chemical classes were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with more than 31% of included articles looking at them followed by phthalates with approximately 24%. Strikingly, not even 30% of the over 1,500 chemicals have yet been assessed for health impacts. Further shortcomings identified in the report include the absence of human exposure studies on micro- and nanoplastic health effects, the impact of a father’s plastic exposure on their children, as well as the fact that few studies were conducted in low-income countries (one each in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Guinea-Bissau while most are done in the US followed by China) or with elderly people. Minderoo also found that few studies investigate the replacements of popular but hazardous chemicals (see also regrettable substitutions article).
In Environmental Health News (EHN), Sarah Dunlop, Minderoo Foundation’s head of plastics and human health, stated that “the extent of the gaps shocked us,” and emphasized that “all new plastic chemicals should be tested for safety before being introduced in consumer products.”
What is more is that Minderoo focused on a specific set of chemicals, meaning that many more – including substances of known health concern or not yet tested ones – are used in plastics. For instance, the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) technical report on chemicals in plastic associated 13,000 substances with plastics or their production, including 3,200 of potential concern while many chemicals have not yet been screened for their hazard properties (FPF reported). Furthermore, focusing on food contact chemicals, the Food Packaging Forum’s (FPF’s) Database on Migrating and Extractable Food Contact Chemicals (FCCmigex) includes over 1000 chemicals that were detected migrating from these plastics into food or food simulants (FPF reported and here).
The Plastic Health Map is one component of a larger Minderoo project investigating the effects of plastics and health. The Minderoo Foundation opened a lab together with the University of Queensland to study micro- and nanoplastics in human blood and tissue samples (FPF reported) and formed the Minderoo – Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health. These projects and others aim to analyze plastic’s health impacts and develop science-based solutions to protect human health (FPF reported). In March 2023, the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health published an extensive report summarizing plastics’ effects across life cycle on human health, environment, and the economy focus on the effects from phthalates, bisphenols, PFAS, brominated flame retardants, organophosphate flame retardant, as well as micro- and nanoplastics (FPF reported).
References
Goodes, L. M. et al. (2023). “The Plastic Health Map: A systematic evidence map of human health studies on plastic-associated chemicals. ” Environment International. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108225
Minderoo (2023). “The Plastic Health Map.”
Read more
Minderoo (October 10, 2023). “Plastic Health Map – the state of research on plastic in people.”
Environmental Health News (October 11, 2023). “Massive new database on how plastic chemicals harm our health.”
