Leading scientists urge US to protect human health in UN Plastic Treaty negotiations

Global scientists, business leaders and campaigners call for human health protections

WASHINGTON D.C , UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, April 11, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Yesterday in Washington D.C. leading scientists urged the US government to protect human health from the impact of plastic pollution.

This comes ahead of the latest round of negotiations for a UN Global Plastics Treaty in Ottawa, Canada.

The Plastic Solutions and Health Summit held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace brought together materials and systems solutions providers, lawyers, front-line communities, and health scientists.

The Summit urged the US Government to engage fully in the negotiations and consider the provisions of the ‘Health Scientists’ Global Plastic Treaty’i to ensure human health is central to any future Treaty.

Those in attendance included representatives of the US Environmental Protection Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, Dow Chemicals, Exxonmobil, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

SeaLegacy and A Plastic Planet, hosts of the Summit, also announced a new partnership to help fight the scourge of plastic as part of the event.

The partnership will work to catalyse action to protect the planet and human health from the impact of plastic and thousands of chemicals included in the material.

Co-Founder of SeaLegacy, Cristina Mittermeier, described witnessing the “horrors that plastic has created” in her work as a renowned photographer and conservationist.

A Plastic Planet is a global solutions organisation that works with industry, governments and academia on post-plastic policy, material and systems solutions.

A Plastic Planet are also co-founders of the Plastic Health Council, representing the most expert global scientists with decades of published research on the impact of plastic on human health. The Plastic Health Council are striving to ensure that protection of human health is at the centre of any future UN treaty on plastic pollution.

In November 2023, The Plastic Health Council launched the ‘Health Scientists’ Global Plastic Treaty’ at the last UN negotiations, INC 3 Kenya, as an alternative to the draft Treaty released by UNEP. The Plastic Health Council will be hosting further events at the next round of negotiations in Ottawa this April.

Globally, 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year with 16,000 component chemical ingredientsii, some of which are associated with endocrine disruption, fertility, heart disease, and canceriii.

The impact costs to the US healthcare system alone in 2018 are calculated to be $250bn; the equivalent of the salaries of 3 million nurses. This represents every state registered nurse in the USAiv.

The scientists agree that an impactful Treaty must reduce the production volumes of plastics, eradicate all but verifiably essential single-use plastic items, mandate proper testing of all chemicals in plastics, and prohibit ‘chemical recycling’ of plastic.

SeaLegacy was founded by leading storytellers Cristina Mittermeier, Paul Nicklen and Andy Mann and offers one of the largest global distribution platforms in the conservation sector.

With over two decades of supporting conservation wins, SeaLegacy has a long history as a major force in the ocean conservation space, driving change through key initiatives, projects, and global campaigns.

Cristina Mittermeier, Co-Founder, SeaLegacy:

“For decades I have seen the devastating effects of plastic in our ocean first hand but is only in the past years that the world has truly woken up to the horrors that plastic has created for humanity.

“We work in the business of storytelling but the impact of plastic on our planet is far from fiction. Our ocean is in grave danger and without a healthy ocean, we will face our own extinction. Plastic has infected every inch of our planet, and now our own bodies.

As negotiations for a UN Global Plastics Treaty continue, we will work side by side with A Plastic Planet to ensure that the hard facts are heard and the cries for action are not ignored.”

Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder and Chief, A Plastic Planet, Plastic Health Council and PlasticFree:

"The scientists have been ringing the alarm for decades and we have a narrow window of opportunity this year to create a global Plastics Treaty that will protect not only our ocean, our air, our soil but our own children. The question for every government now is this – will you negotiate a Treaty to protect the health of your people; or will you negotiate a Treaty to protect the profits of the fossil fuel industry?

"Our partnership with SeaLegacy is founded on the fundamental shared desire for meaningful action. Together we set out the remind those with the power to make change that there is a path forward and an absolute urgency to get started. Viable solutions are already available at scale, giving us materials and systems that work in harmony with nature, not against it.”

Dr John Peterson Myers, Founder, Environmental Health Sciences and Member of the Plastic Health Council, said: 

“Plastic and plastic chemicals have spread like a scourge to every part of our planet, even inside us at levels known to be hazardous.  Yet industry projections based on ‘business-as-usual’ anticipate the volume of plastics created will double by the mid-century.   

“We must choose. Will we smother the Earth and ourselves with toxic plastics? Or do we have the courage and foresight to stop the onslaught?” 

Jacob Robinson
Higginson Strategy
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