The world is facing a plastics crisis. Plastic pollution is found all around the globe. Plastics are negatively affecting people and the environment at each stage of their lifecycle – extraction of fossil fuel, production, manufacturing, use, recycling, and disposal. The impacts are felt in a wide range of areas, including on biodiversity , climate change , human health and human rights . This page focuses on the impacts of plastics and the chemicals they contain on human health.
World Health Assembly and Plastics
At the Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly (WHA76) May 2023 , a resolution on the impact of chemicals, waste, and pollution on human health initially tabled by Peru, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Monaco, Switzerland, Uruguay, and the European Union and its Member States was adopted. The resolution, available on the WHA76 portal , includes notes and references to various ongoing negotiations as well as UN Environment Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions. Among these, Plastic pollution and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in charge of developing a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. The resolutions requests to scaling-up work on plastics and health.
Read more on international collaboration on plastics and health:
Plastics and Health at a Glance
Humans are exposed to a large variety of toxic chemicals and microplastics through inhalation, ingestion, and direct skin contact, all along the plastic lifecycle. According to WWF, an average person could be ingesting approximately 5 grams of plastic every week . While the health impacts of plastics is still a rather new research area, scientific results to-date do indicate plastic causes diseases, disability and premature death at very stage of its life cycle . T he toxic chemical additives and pollutants found in plastics threaten human health on a global scale. Scientifically-proven health effects include causing cancer or changing hormone activity (known as endocrine disruption), which can lead to reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment. Many of the toxic chemical additives have several other known health impacts, persist in the environment, and bioaccumulate in exposed organisms. Research also revealed that microplastics can harm our health, and act as vessels for pathogens to enter our system, increasing the spread of diseases.
Health impacts are also observed all along the plastic value chain. Examples include pollution at extraction sites, workers exposure to chemicals, air pollution from waste incineration, and water and soil contamination. Vulnerable groups, including children, women, workers in the informal waste sector and marginalized communities are particularly exposed, thus raising concerns of human rights and environmental injustice. The adverse effects of plastic are particularly acute children in the womb and young ones, with increased risks of prematurity, stillbirth, birth defects of the reproductive organs, neurodevelopmental impairment, impaired lung growth, and childhood cancer (Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Health, 2023 ). Finally, plastics contribute to the numerous health risks associated with warming temperatures and extreme weather events due to climate change. The effects of plastic production on human health also have important monetary costs, recently estimated to more than $250 billion in 2015 globally and more than $920 billions in the USA alone for diseases and disability caused by the plastic-associated chemicals PBDE, BPA and DEHP.
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General resources on the impacts of plastics on human health:
Does plastic makes us sick? IPEN’s Toxic Plastics Campaign Global health burdens of plastics: a lifecycle assessment model from 2016 to 2040 Plastics and human health: what’s at stake in the global treaty talks in Geneva ‘Plastics Crisis’ Costs Trillions, Kills Hundreds of Thousands Each Year, Lancet Finds The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics New study links chemicals in plastics to heart disease deaths Global Plastics Talks Set to Resume Next Month Must Prioritize Environment and Health, Experts Say Negotiating the plastics treaty to protect health and the environment Toxic Butts: What the Plastic Treaty’s Negotiating Text Means for Health, and Liability Plastics threaten ecosystems and human health, but evidence-based solutions are under political fire Human health evidence in the global treaty to end plastic pollution: a survey of policy perspectives Cambridge Prisms: Plastics| 7 March 2025 Effects of Microplastic Exposure on Human Digestive, Reproductive, and Respiratory Health: A Rapid Systematic Review Impacts of Plastic Pollution on Human Health. Insights from the SMEP Programme Plastic Health Umbrella Review Microplastic presence in dog and human testis and its potential association with sperm count and weights of testis and epididymis “We’re Dying Here” | The Fight for Life in a Louisiana Fossil Fuel Sacrifice Zone The global plastics treaty: an endocrinologist’s assessment Plastics Health Map How Plastics Are Poisoning Us Demand for recycled plastic in packaging is growing. So are concerns about potential health risks Forever Toxic: The science on health threats from plastic recycling Hazardous Chemicals in Plastic Products and Food Chain in Kenya Our Way of Life is Poisoning Us The links between pollution and miscarriage: ‘This is the stuff nightmares are made of’ The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health – Report Global Bottled Water Industry: A Review of Impacts and Trends Living in the Plastic – Age Perspectives from Humanities, Social Sciences and Environmental Sciences Plastics and health – An urgent environmental, climate and health issue A growing crisis for One Health: Impacts of plastic pollution across layers of biological function The Invisible Global Crisis: Exceeding the Limits of the Pollution Planetary Boundary – New Science and Opportunities to Tackle Threats to Human and Marine Life Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities | Environmental Science & Technology 2022 56 (3), 1510-1521 | January 2022New global studies show health threats throughout the plastics supply chain Plastics in soil threaten food security, health, and environment Geneva Beat Plastic Pollution Dialogues – Plastics and Health Ocean pollution threatens the health of more than three billion people Human Health and Ocean Pollution Is plastic a threat to your health? Plastic & Health: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet Impact of plastics on human health and ecosystems
Exposure to Plastics
While scientific gaps remain on exact numbers, there is no doubt that humans are exposed to plastics through daily life products, plastic-based medical supplies, as well as through the food chain and airborne plastic pollution. Workers in the extraction, manufacture, transportation and waste sector and local communities where these activities are conducted are further exposed. Through these various pathways, we are exposed to microplastics and the chemical additives they contain. Recent studies have found microplastics in human blood, lungs, and placenta. As 99% of plastics are created from chemicals of fossil origin, oil-associated toxicological short and long term health hazards from respiratory symptomps to adverse neurological effects, including stress and generalized anxiety disorder are part of the plastic value-chain.
Exposure pathways to plastics. Source: CIEL, 2019. Click to enlarge.
Further resources on exposure to plastics
Plastics, plastic chemicals, and microplastics: multiple harms to health Exploring Everyday Microplastic Exposures Preterm birth attributable to exposure to chemicals used in plastic materials: a global estimate Are We Cooked? The Hidden Health Risks of Plastic-Packaged Ready Meals 24 February 2026 Assessment of tire-derived additives and their metabolites into fruit, root and leafy vegetables and evaluation of dietary intake in Swiss adults Human exposure to PM10 microplastics in indoor air Phthalate exposure from plastics and cardiovascular disease: global estimates of attributable mortality and years life lost Trump’s unnecessary stand on plastic straws ignores American Health Crisis Toxic Plastic Chemical Exposures to Plastic Treaty Stakeholders Plastics Poison the Workplace: Chemical Exposures to Plastic Waste and Recycling Workers |Plastic Makes Us Sick. A Parent’s Guide to Reducing Exposure 5 unsuspected everyday items that contain plastic (hint: you’re consuming them) Progress in European chemicals policy to support the protection of the environment and human health from persistent, mobile and toxic and very persistent and very mobile substances Project TENDR Briefing Paper: Protecting the Developing Brains of Children from Plastics and Toxic Chemicals in Plastics Plastics, Fossil Carbon, and the Heart Plastic Food Packaging from Five Countries Contains Endocrine- and Metabolism-Disrupting Chemicals | Sarah Stevens, Molly McPartland, Zdenka Bartosova, Hanna Sofie Skåland, Johannes Völker, and Martin Wagner | Environ. Sci. Technol. | 5 March 2024. Tiny Particles of Plastic Now Pollute Our Food, Water and Even the Clouds Dangerous chemicals found in recycled plastics, making them unsafe for use – experts explain the hazards Researchers discover thousands of nanoplastic bits in bottles of drinking water The Plastic Chemicals Hiding in Your Food Got Plastic With a No. 2 Recycling Symbol? Beware a Toxic Problem Mismanaged Plastic Levels Could Almost Double Unless Action Is Taken Fire at New Mexico recycling plant prompts health alert for hazardous smoke 1st Plastics Pollution Weather Forecast Predicts 88 Pounds of Microplastic Over Paris Hidden Hazards: The Chemical Footprint of a Plastic Bottle | Defend Our Health | 23 May 2023 Who Said Recycling Was Green? It Makes Microplastics By the Ton | Inside Climate News | 16 May 2023 Environmental, Food and Human Body Burden of Dechlorane Plus in a Waste Recycling Area in Thailand: No Room for Exemptions The Perils of PVC Plastic Pipes The grim price paid for our plastics addiction by seasonal farmworkers and their children in Türkiye Health & Toxics Digital Toolkit Plastics touching our food may be making us gain weight Cultivating Plastic (Part 2) – Environmental and human health harm caused by agriplastics Every stage of plastic production and use is harming human health: Report Inside the East Palestine Disaster: A Wake Up Call To Ban Toxic Vinyl Chloride & Go Beyond Plastics New Study Shows PFAS Chemicals Rapidly Migrate into Products from Fluorinated Plastic Containers Ohio train derailment spotlights debate over health risks from plastics Ben Adler | Yahoo News | 24 February 2023 The Ohio Derailment Lays Bare the Hellish Plastic Crisis How dangerous was the Ohio chemical train derailment? An environmental engineer assesses the long-term risks | The Conversation | 15 February 2023 The EPA has disclosed additional, concerning chemicals released during the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio The Ohio train derailment underscores the dangers of the plastics boom | Grist | 10 February 2023Microplastics discovered in human breast milk raises alarm Turkey: Plastic Recycling Harms Health, Environment Children as young as nine say they are ill from work recycling plastic in Turkey Microplastics detected in meat, milk and blood of farm animals ‘The Smoke Enters Your Body’: A Toxic Trash Site in Kenya Is Making Women Sick Sowing a Plastic Planet: How Microplastics in Agrochemicals Are Affecting Our Soils, Our Food, and Our Future Assessment of agricultural plastics and their sustainability: A call for action Microplastics found deep in lungs of living people for first time Microplastics found in human blood for first time Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood It’s not just oceans: scientists find plastic is also polluting the air Fish farming has a plastic problem Plasticenta: First evidence of microplastics in human placenta Water pollution by plastics and microplastics: A review of technical solutions from source to sea Plastics Waste Poisons Indonesia’s Food Chain What’s in your bathroom? The hidden plastics in your beauty products Widespread distribution of PET and PC microplastics in dust in urban China and their estimated human exposure Revealed: plastic ingestion by people could be equating to a credit card a week Human Consumption of Microplastics How Does Plastic Cause Air Pollution? Plastics in Cosmetics Inhaled cellulosic and plastic fibers found in human lung tissue
Health Risks of Microplastics
Micro- and nanoplastics in the human body may have harmful effects on health. The main microplastics exposure route for humans is ingestion, followed by inhalation and dermal exposure. Although there is no scientific certainty of the amount of plastics humans ingests, estimation guesses around 0.1–5 g/week , while inhalation can amount between 26 and 170 airborne MNPs of per day and up to 22,000,000 micro- and nanoplastics inhaled by humans annually. Studies on animals indicate that plastic particles can cross the gut barrier and travel through the body. While this field of study is rather recent, recent studies have found a correlation between ppresence of microplastics in the human body and inflammatory bowel disease symptoms , respiratory complications among others which still require further study. Additionally, plastics increase disease risk by acting as a vessel for human pathogens which have a particularly strong bind to plastic waste.
Source: Breathing Plastic: The Health Impacts of Invisible Plastics in the Air
Further resources on the health risks of microplastics
| The Guardian | 21 July 2025Microplastics Have a Concerning Effect on The Microbes in Our Gut A Call to Protect Human and Environmental Health in Southeast and East Asia. A Regional Statement on the Microplastics Crisis | IPEN | 5 June 2025Everything you should know about microplastics | Kritiksha Sharma | Yahoo News | 14 April 2025Plastic pellet losses: Council and Parliament agree on new rules to reduce microplastic pollution What Are Microplastics Doing in our Body? This Lab is Racing to Find Out Microplastics could be hotspots for antimicrobial resistance Chewing gum can shed microplastics into saliva, pilot study finds Microplastic within humans now a health crisis: Interview with ‘Plastic People’ filmmakers Liz Kimbrough | Mongabay | 1 9 Mar 2025 Study finds microplastics in our brains are accumulating, with unknown outcomes on our health How dangerous are nanoplastics for babies in the womb? Human brain samples contain an entire spoon’s worth of nanoplastics, study says Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains Microplastics in the bloodstream can induce cerebral thrombosis by causing cell obstruction and lead to neurobehavioral abnormalities PFAS and microplastics become more toxic when combined, research shows Analysis of governments’ authority to mitigate micro- and nanoplastic releases through closed-loop design to inform the global plastics treaty negotiations How Harmful Are Microplastics To Human Health? Twenty years of microplastics pollution research—what have we learned? Microplastics are infiltrating brain tissue, studies show: ‘There’s nowhere left untouched’ Addressing Microplastic Pollution via the Global Plastic Treaty |Your Plastic Water Bottle May Be Making You Gain Weight: Microplastics New Lawsuits Claim Baby Bottle Manufacturers Misleadingly Exposed Infants To Harmful Microplastics Prevalence and implications of microplastic contaminants in general human seminal fluid: A Raman spectroscopic study The potential of micro- and nanoplastics to exacerbate the health impacts and global burden of non-communicable diseases Microplastic presence in dog and human testis and its potential association with sperm count and weights of testis and epididymis Microplastics role in cell migration and distribution during cancer cell division Intravenous hypertonic fluids as a source of human microplastic exposure Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events Landmark study links microplastics to serious health problems Micro and nano plastics in food: A review on the strategies for identification, isolation, and mitigation through photocatalysis, and health risk assessment Anionic nanoplastic contaminants promote Parkinson’s disease–associated α-synuclein aggregation Characterization of Microplastics in Clouds over Eastern China Acute Exposure to Microplastics Induced Changes in Behavior and Inflammation in Young and Old Mice For the Love of God, Stop Microwaving Plastic | Wired | 31 July 2023NO Plastics, Please! 7 ways to reduce exposure to microplastics and the toxic chemicals in everyday plastics ‘They’re in the air, drinking water, dust, food …’ How to reduce your exposure to microplastics Assessing the Release of Microplastics and Nanoplastics from Plastic Containers and Reusable Food Pouches: Implications for Human Health Environ. Sci. Technol. | 21 June 2023The impact of microplastics on the gut microbiome and health: A food safety perspectiveFrom Landfills To Our Lungs: The Invisible Threat Of Airborne Microplastics Micro- and Nanoplastics Breach the Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB): Biomolecular Corona’s Role Revealed Breathing Plastic: The Health Impacts of Invisible Plastics in the Air Joint letter to the European Commission– Nanomaterials in everyday products FUTURE BRIEF: Nanoplastics: state of knowledge and environmental and human health impacts Microplastic diagnostics in humans: “The 3Ps” Progress, problems, and prospects Searching for [nanos] in everyday products Pathogens can hitch a ride on plastic to reach the sea Maternal Exposure to Polystyrene Micro- and Nanoplastics Causes Fetal Growth Restriction in Mice Microplastics increase the toxicity of organic pollutants in the environment by a factor of 10 Microplastics cause damage to human cells, study shows Microplastics are everywhere — but are they harmful? Exposure to microplastics may alter cellular function Microplastics and human health Insights into nanoplastics effects on human health Microplastics in drinking-water Components of plastic: experimental studies in animals and relevance for human health
Toxic Chemicals in Plastic
To date, it has been estimated that more than 16,000 chemicals are used to make plastic, of which at least 4200 are chemicals of concern . This number shows a both a growth in the number of used chemicals and an improvement in their identification, as it departures from the 13,000 chemicals found by UNEP and BRS in 2023.
A growing body of evidence points to the health risks posed are not only caused by plastic additives, as humans are also directly exposed to plastic materials in the form of microplastics and nano-plastics (Project TENDR, 2024 ). Exposure to plastics and chemicals can happen through ingestion through food and waste, chemicals leaching and accumulation in air and dust. These act as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are linked to infertility , obesity, diabetes , prostate or breast cancer , thyroid problems and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke , among others. Other health conditions linked to additives include reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment and neurodevelopment disorders. The technical report Chemicals in Plastics
Further Resources
| Emily M. Stevenson, Angus Buckling, Matthew Cole, Penelope K. Lindeque, Aimee K. Murray | Journal of Hazardous Materials | 15 August 2025 | Iseline Chaïb, Périne Doyen, Pauline Merveillie et al. | Journal of Food Composition and Analysis | August 2025 | Greenpeace Suisse | 22 July 2025
| Greenpeace International | 21 July 2025
| Greenpeace International | 21 July 2025
Mapping the chemical complexity of plastics | L. Monclús, H. P. H. Arp, K. J. Groh, A. Faltynkova, M. E. Løseth, J. Muncke, Z. Wang et al. | Nature | 9 July 2025What are the benefits of regulating chemicals of concern? | Scientists’ Coalition for an Ambitious Plastics Treaty | June 2025Health impacts of exposure to synthetic chemicals in food | Jane Muncke, Mathilde Touvier, Leonardo Trasande & Martin Scheringer | Nature Medicine | 16 May 2025This commonly used plastic chemical caused 350,000 heart disease-related deaths in 1 year | Grist | 6 May 2025Addressing the toxic chemicals problem in plastics recycling | Bethanie Carney Almroth, Eric Carmona, Nnaemeka Chukwuone et al. | Cambridge Prisms: Plastics | 16 January 2025 Chemicals in Products UNEP Tools to Address Chemicals of Concern | UNEP, GEF, SAICM
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As hazardous chemicals can be released from plastics along the entire lifecycle, solutions must address all phases.
Further resources on chemical additives in plastics
Chemicals in plastic products Policy Brief: Plastic Chemicals Protecting the Developing Brains of Children from the Harmful Effects of Plastics and Toxic Chemicals in Plastics. Recommendations for Essential Policy Reforms in the New Global Treaty on Plastics Frequently Asked Questions on Plastics and Chemicals Toxic plastic chemicals number in the thousands, most are unregulated, report finds Chemicals in plastics far more numerous than previous estimates, report says State of the science on plastic chemicals | Identifying and addressing chemicals and polymers of concern Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Threats to Human Health Topic Sheet | Criteria for Chemicals Chemicals Used in Plastic Materials: An Estimate of the Attributable Disease Burden and Costs in the United States Toxics in Our Clothing The Dirty Secret of Alternative Plastics Increasing Evidence Shows: There are No Safe and Circular Plastics Women’s Health and Chemical Exposures A not so circular healthcare economy: A review of challenges with plastic associated chemicals |Chemical Threats to Health and Biodiversity Taking Center Stage in Plastics Treaty Talks | Chemicals Used in Plastic Materials Harm Human Health and the Economy Troubling Toxics: Eliminating Harmful Plastic Chemicals Through The Plastics Treaty Forever Toxic: The science on health threats from plastic recycling Hidden Hazards: The Chemical Footprint of a Plastic Bottle | Defend Our Health | 23 May 2023 Hazardous chemicals in recycled and reusable plastic food packaging Chemicals in Plastics – A Technical Report Hazardous Chemicals in Plastic Products and Food Chain in Kenya Global governance of plastics and associated chemicals Plastic Recycling Plant Could Send Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ Into the Susquehanna River, Polluting a Vital Drinking Water Source For the First Time in Nearly Two Decades, the EPA Announces New Rules to Limit Toxic Air Pollutants From Chemical and Plastics Plants Fresh produce contaminated with toxic BPA-like chemicals found in food labels, study finds Global plastic treaty should address chemicals et al. , in Science | 24 November 2022Chemicals could undercut global plastics treaty Integrating a Chemicals Perspective into the Global Plastic Treaty A long and winding road: chemicals and the plastics value chain Why checking plastic packaging labels for BPA is important Outside the Safe Operating Space of a New Planetary Boundary for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Health, Chemicals, Plastics & a Non-Toxic Circular Economy | Geneva Beat Plastic Pollution Dialogues & BRS COPs Side Event Hazardous Chemicals in Plastic Products Plastic Poisons the Circular Economy Worrying insights into the chemicals in plastics Toxic Chemicals in Plastic Waste Poisoning People in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe & Latin America Chemicals in plastic, electronics are lowering fertility in men and women Harmful Chemicals Found in 25% of Children’s Toys, UNEP Study Finds 7 Harmful Chemical Types in Plastics Everyday Plastics Are Leaching Hazardous Chemicals Five Harmful Chemical to Watch Out For in Plastics Plastics, EDCs & Health: Authoritative Guide What are the drivers of microplastic toxicity? Comparing the toxicity of plastic chemicals and particles to Daphnia magna POPS Recycling Contaminates Children’s Toys with Toxic Flame Retardants Bisphenol A and human health: a review of the literature
International Cooperation on Plastics and Health
Addressing plastic pollution is not only a environmental matter, but also about protecting human health from pollutants. Following the adoption of a landmark resolution to end plastic pollution at the UN Environment Assembly in March 2022, the process to develop a new treaty on the matter kicked off in 2022. The treaty could be an opportunity to better protect human health from the risks associated with plastics. The resources below present various initiatives in Geneva and beyond aimed at strengthening the links between plastics and health, and addressing the plastic crisis to protect human health.
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More on the Plastics Crisis
Our special series « Plastics and the Environment » provides resources on the status of the global plastic pollution, its impact on people and the environment, and international cooperation to address the plastics crisis.
