The Food Packaging Forum (FPF) submitted comments to the Parliament of Australia’s public consultation on the impact of microplastics and other toxics on human health. The consultation closed in March 2026.
The Parliament of Australia sought input on the effects of microplastics, “toxics,” and “forever chemicals” (PFAS) on human health. This included their potential impacts on reproductive health (for both women and men), pregnancy outcomes, and early-life development, as well as links to chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer (FPF reported, also here), and metabolic or immune disorders (FPF reported).
The inquiry also invited feedback on how well the public is informed about these risks, the potential value of national standards for consumer products, and lessons from effective international policies.
The following is a shortened version of FPF’s comments. The full version is available under submission 48 and contains further links to supporting scientific studies and resources.
Comment
FPF is part of the AURORA research project which aims to develop an Actionable European Roadmap for early-life health risk Assessment of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs). A project within the CUSP consortium, the European research cluster to understand the health impacts of MNPs which is funded by the Horizon 2020 program.
Now active for almost 5 years, the AURORA project is assessing the toxicological and health effects of MNP exposure during early-life by studying effects in the placenta and the developing fetus in vitro and through two birth cohort studies (with participants from Spain and Belgium).
Published scientific studies using an in vitro placental model, including Van Boxel et al., 2025, show that polystyrene particles with the size of 50 and 200 nm can pass through the placental barrier (FPF reported). These particles did not influence mitochondrial activity, oxidative stress, and gene expression of several functional markers and steroidogenic enzymes. 50 nm polystyrene particles lowered 17-alpha-estradiol (a hormone) levels by 17%. More research is needed to understand the particles’ possible impact on hormone production during pregnancy (FPF reported), but there is reason to be concerned about this endocrine disrupting effect, because human fetal development is very tightly controlled by the endocrine (or: hormone) system, and even small fluctuations can lead to health outcomes that manifest later in (adult) life.
In addition, AURORA, including FPF, has contributed to the development of the published CUSP Research Roadmap on the health impacts of micro- and nanoplastics (FPF reported). The CUSP Roadmap lays out the state of the science and future research needs, prioritized in short-, mid-, and long-term needs.
CUSP research results show that MNPs can cross the placental barrier, accumulate in fetal organs, and cause biological effects in the liver and related to lipid metabolism (FPF reported). This raises concerns for adverse health impacts during pregnancy and early childhood development. In addition, in vitro models mimicking the placenta have shown that some MNPs increase epithelial permeability and trigger inflammatory, allergic, and other immune responses (FPF reported). Studies by CUSP research projects further show that physicochemical properties of plastic particles (i.e., reactive surface, shape) determine the toxicological effects of micro- and nanoplastics, but further research would be needed to understand the detailed relationship between MNPs’ physicochemical properties and their potential toxicity.
However, the known health impacts of plastic chemicals, as well as MNPs’ known impacts on ecosystems and on other non-human organisms, are sufficient reasons to be concerned with plastics. The precautionary principle, which states that lack of scientific certainty should not stand in the way of preventing potential harm to human health, could be invoked.
Given the already widespread global (and irreversible) human exposure to MNPs (FPF reported), and the existing and emerging evidence for the harms inflicted by plastic chemicals on human health across all life stages, it is important to prevent further adverse impacts, by implementing evidence-based mitigation measures, even in the current absence of abundant evidence of the harms of MNP particles
Reference
Food Packaging Forum (March 5, 2026). “Submission 48, on the ‘Impact of microplastics and other toxics on human health’.” Parliament of Australia
