There's no doubt about it anymore. It's responsible for cancer, but also diabetes.
Authors: PAP ; Prepared by BARB • Source: PAP • Published: August 4, 2025 1:24 PM • Updated: August 4, 2025 3:33 PM
Plastic pollution poses a serious, growing, and neglected threat to human health, warns a team of 27 scientists from around the world in the scientific journal The Lancet. The report was released ahead of a UN conference on the establishment of a plastics treaty.
Experts said plastic causes widespread illness "at every stage of the plastic life cycle and throughout every stage of human life," with infants and young children particularly vulnerable . They identified multiple impacts, including:
- circulatory system disorders,
- cancers,
- diabetes,
- respiratory diseases,
- increased susceptibility to infections.
The report states that plastic production has increased more than 200-fold since 1950 and is projected to almost triple by 2060, exceeding one billion tons per year.
As noted, plastic currently pollutes the entire Earth: from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest ocean trench. Scientists estimate that the current pollution reaches 8 billion tons . Less than 10% of this is recycled.
According to experts, plastics threaten people and the planet at every stage:
- from the extraction of the fossil fuels from which they were created,
- to production,
- use, and
- disposal.
This results in:
- air pollution,
- exposure to toxic chemicals, and
- the entry of microplastics into the body.
The report's authors called for the creation of an independent global monitoring system, the Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics, to track the impact of plastic pollution.
The Lancet article was published just ahead of a UN conference in Geneva, Switzerland, beginning Tuesday , attended by delegates from 170 countries, aimed at establishing a legally binding global treaty on plastics. The previous round of talks, held in December 2024 in South Korea, ended in failure . Conflict erupted when fossil fuel-producing nations, including Saudi Arabia, blocked efforts by 100 other countries to curb plastic production.
Over 98% of plastics are made from:
- crude oil,
- gas, and
- coal.
This process is very energy-intensive and leads to a deepening climate crisis, emitting the equivalent of 2 billion tons of CO2 per year.
Although plastic is considered a cheap material, scientists dispute this claim, arguing that it is expensive when the cost of health damage is factored in . They have calculated that plastics cause illness and death and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1.5 trillion annually. These effects primarily affect low-income and at-risk groups.
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