On August 4, 2025, a new report co-authored by scientists from the Food Packaging Forum and 32 other international research organizations was published in The Lancet. The report provides an up-to-date assessment of the links between health and plastic pollution across the full life cycle of plastics.
According to the report, an estimated 8 billion metric tons of plastic waste now pollute the planet. Micro- and nanoplastic particles and multiple plastic chemicals are found in the most remote reaches of the environment and in the bodies of marine and terrestrial species worldwide, including humans. Plastics can harm human health at every stage of the plastic life cycle across all stages of human life, and vulnerable populations bear a disproportionate burden, the authors say. Besides the impacts of plastics and plastic pollution on human health, the report also highlights the health-related economic costs of plastics.
Coincident with the expected finalization of the global plastics treaty, the report also announces the launch of an independent, health-focused global monitoring system on plastics: The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics. The Countdown is inspired by the model and impact of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change. Specifically, the new Countdown aims to identify and regularly report on a suite of scientifically meaningful and geographically and temporally representative indicators (production and emissions, exposures, health impacts, and interventions and engagement) across all stages of the plastic life cycle, and track progress towards minimizing exposures and mitigating human health impacts. In doing so, it aims to provide independent data that can continue to inform decision-making for the benefit of public health.
United Nations Member States are gathering in Geneva, Switzerland from August 5 to 14, 2025, for the expected final round of talks to conclude a global plastics treaty to end plastic pollution (FPF reported, also here). The mandate for these negotiations, unanimously agreed at UNEA 5.2 in 2022, is to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastic.
“The plastics treaty’s ambition is to end plastic pollution. And this obviously includes plastic pollution in the oceans, but plastic pollution comes in many shapes and forms – from macroplastics to micro- and nanoplastics and also, of course, the over 16,000 known plastic chemicals,” said Jane Muncke, co-author from the Food Packaging Forum during the report’s launch event. “This is very relevant work also for the implementation of an effective global plastics treaty, because what is measured can be managed.”
Reference
Landrigan et al. (2025) “The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics.” The Lancet.
Read More
Damian Carrington. (August 4, 2025). “World in $1.5tn ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns.” The Guardian.
