6 million healthcare professionals call for stricter limits on plastics worldwide

Millions of healthcare professionals around the world are calling on world governments to impose meaningful limits on the plastics industry.

Representatives from 900 healthcare civil society groups called for limits on plastic production, restrictions on toxic chemicals and full transparency around what goes into plastics in an open letter on Monday.

The letter was sent to country teams concluding the fourth round of United Nations Environment Program plastics negotiations in Ottawa, Canada, where delegates are divided on the question of whether plastic pollution can be reduced without reducing plastic production.

“Plastic represents an ongoing crisis for human and planetary health, which will inevitably worsen with the planned dramatic increase in plastics production unless global action is taken,” according to the open letter from Health Care Without Harm.

Six million healthcare professionals around the world have signed the letter, which warns that plastics pose serious threats to human health, both through direct poisoning and – due to the industry’s dependence on fossil fuels – through their role in climate warming.

“There are health impacts at each stage of the plastic life cycle,” the authors note.

“Plastics used in healthcare require thousands of dangerous additives (including carcinogens, neurotoxicants, endocrine disruptors) that can leach from products and waste and persist in the environment, threatening patients, communities, workers (including waste workers) and ecosystems. .”

They argue that these impacts are particularly worrying for “vulnerable patients”, including children, fetuses and newborns – and that they add significant costs to the global healthcare system.

They also argue that many of these dangers are compounded because they are hidden, writing that “lack of complete information about product ingredients impedes efforts to reuse, recycle, and switch to safer alternatives.”

The letter is significant because medical plastics is a key domain that industry advocates point to when arguing against limits on production.

An anonymous campaign called “These plastics” seeks to combat the idea of ​​such limits, arguing that plastics are “vital” to preserve human health.

“Plastics have made healthcare safer and more affordable,” according to the website. “By reducing spoilage and preserving nutritional value, plastics also contribute to supporting food security while maintaining human health and well-being.”

The industry’s campaign also argues that despite their dependence on fossil fuels, plastics are in fact more climate-friendly than alternative materials because they are lighter and therefore require less fuel to transport.