On September 30, 2026, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) published a report on how chemicals in everyday plastics are harming human health. The report provides a novel analysis of the PlastChem database, which contains information on more than 16,000 plastic-associated chemicals (FPF reported). The report also covers insights from scientific experts on the impacts of plastics on human health, based on information gathered through a semi-structured questionnaire.
The EJF report found that the majority of chemicals (79.2%) used in food-contact plastics, textiles, toys, household items, and hygiene and medical items lack relevant data to assess human health toxicity, risk of exposure, or both. Based on their toxicity and risk of exposure, 92.8% of the chemicals assessed were identified as presenting a high risk to human health. The chemicals identified are known or suspected to cause cancer, damage vital organs, disrupt hormones, impair fertility and development, and contribute to chronic disease. “The implications are stark: we are facing a plastic-related health crisis,” the authors argue.
Roughly half of these high-risk chemicals are neither subject to regulation at the international level nor in any of the four jurisdictions reviewed by PlastChem, which include the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and California.
To address the health impacts of plastics and their associated chemicals, EJF provides 10 recommendations for policymakers. These include:
- Setting concrete targets to reduce the production, supply, and trade of primary plastics, such as the 40×40 target to reduce global production by 40% by 2040 compared to the 2025 baseline proposed by Rwanda and Peru during negotiations to develop a Global Plastics Treaty
- Regulating the use of harmful chemicals throughout the life cycle of plastics and other materials, especially during production; measures should follow a precautionary approach, where safety testing is performed before a chemical is placed on the market.
- Ensuring transparency and traceability of plastics and associated chemicals throughout their life cycle, filling information gaps on the threats from plastic-associated chemicals, holding chemical and polymer producers accountable, and empowering regulatory agencies.
- Banning or restricting the production, use, trade, sales, and distribution of hazardous and non-essential plastic products, especially single-use plastics and plastics with high risk of toxicity and exposure.
- Improving the design of plastic products to protect human health.
- Supporting the implementation of safe reuse, refill, repair, and other reduction-enabling systems in place of toxic single-use systems.
- Mechanisms for cross-border cooperation, as well as transparency and traceability measures, to ensure that restrictions on production and trade can be effectively enforced.
- Setting the protection of health and human rights as a primary objective and cross-cutting theme throughout; tackling the plastics crisis from a One Health perspective, thereby addressing threats to the biosphere, including humans, other living organisms, and ecosystems.
- Supporting urgent multidisciplinary research and education on the human health and environmental impacts of plastics, to fill knowledge gaps and align plastics governance with environmental and public health governance.
- Supporting robust, transparent, and up-to-date data on the climate, health, and biodiversity impacts of plastic production.
Reference
Environmental Justice Foundation (September 30, 2026). “Poison Plastics: How Chemicals in Everyday Plastics Are Harming Your Health.”
