Reacción a "Plastic pollution is an underrecognized threat to health, according to The Lancet."

Landrigan and colleagues emphasize the growing and largely unrecognized risk that plastics pose to human and planetary health. Coinciding with the expected conclusion of the United Nations–led Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, this group of researchers proposes the creation of an independent global monitoring system based on indicators that track progress toward reducing plastic exposure and mitigating its harms to both human and planetary health.

The study presents a summary of the damages caused by plastics throughout their life cycle, with particular focus on new information that has emerged since the 2023 publication of the Minderoo-Monaco Commission report on plastics and human health. Most of the confirmed harms are mediated by exposure to chemicals present in plastics, while others may be due to micro- and nanoplastics. The study highlights the lack of transparency around which chemical substances are present in plastics, their uses and applications, production volumes, and toxic effects. This limits a full understanding of the potential health impacts of these chemicals. Multiple analyses from various organizations conclude that comprehensive, multilevel policies addressing the entire plastic life cycle would be the most effective in controlling plastic pollution and protecting human health.

The key indicators identified in this proposal include production and emissions, exposures, and health impacts, following a classic source–exposure–effect model that provides a framework for tracking the impacts of plastics on human health at each stage of their life cycle. In addition, the area of interventions and engagement will monitor societal responses to the plastics crisis, encompassing both policy actions and public responses, from the international to the individual level.

By making visible the impact of plastics on human and planetary health, the proposed system—The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics—aims to place health at the center of the plastics debate, with the hope that the reports it generates will provide robust data and insights to inform evidence-based plastic policies at all levels, from global to local, for the benefit of public health.