Chemicals Found In Common Plastic Products Have Been Linked To Hundreds Of Thousands Of Deaths Across The World
Chemicals in common plastic products have been linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths all over the world, according to a new study.
The research suggests that stricter regulations should be placed on the use of such toxins in order to improve public health.
Maureen Cropper at the University of Maryland and her colleagues evaluated the impact of three types of chemicals used in plastic on public health.
The three main chemicals are bisphenol A (BPA), di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).
Generally, phthalates have been known to be a danger to human health because they can interfere with hormonal functions.
As consumer products are broken down and ingested, the toxins build up and increase our exposure to them. The exposure has been associated with conditions like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
For instance, BPA and DEHP are frequently found in food packaging, and PBDEs are flame retardants used in some household objects, such as electronics and furniture.
The research team took a look at 1,700 previously published studies on these plastic chemicals, including the NYU Langone 2021 study.
They also estimated people’s exposure to the three chemicals across 38 different countries, which represented about a third of the world’s population.
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They found that three of the 38 countries, Canada, the United States, and South Korea, have public databases that keep track of the levels of these chemicals in urine and blood samples. As a result, they were able to obtain even more accurate data.
Overall, the findings indicate that tighter regulations on toxins are necessary to protect public health. When looking at toxicology reports and medical records, the researchers determined that the state of people’s health could be traced back to the three chemicals.
Roughly 5.4 million cases of coronary heart disease and 346,000 strokes were linked to BPA exposure in 2015. In addition, DEHP may have caused around 164,000 deaths in individuals between the ages of 55 and 64.
Those with the highest concentration of phthalates in their urine were more likely to die of heart disease. Since 2000, these chemicals have become less common in countries in Europe, the U.S., and Canada.
“I think one of the real limitations, frankly, is the lack of exposure data on these substances,” Cropper said. “It would be a good idea if more countries actually monitored [exposures to] these and other substances.”
Furthermore, the societal and economic cost of continued heavy exposure to these chemicals is very great. For example, phthalate exposure contributed to more than 10,000 deaths per year in adult American men due to lowered testosterone levels, according to the NYU Langone study. The deaths cost almost nine billion dollars in lost economic productivity.
The latest research was published in PNAS.
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