In an article published on August 25, 2022, in the journal Annals of Global Health, Philip J. Landrigan and his 17 co-authors from research institutions worldwide, the Minderoo Foundation, and the United Nations Environment Programme, announced the formation of the Minderoo – Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human health which includes scientists, policy analysts, and healthcare workers and intends to analyze plastic health impacts and provide recommendations to prevent plastic-related diseases. In the article, the authors describe the impacts of plastics on humans and the environment, and the linkage to climate and planetary boundaries (FPF reported and here) before they present the needs, their plan, and the solution.
The Minderoo-Monaco Commission plans “to bridge this gap in knowledge and to break down the silos that have separated the medical and public health communities from oceanographers and environmental researchers.” Specifically, the Commission wants to assess and quantify the hazards of plastic on human health throughout its life cycle, estimate health-related economic costs, and identify research needs. Moreover, it plans to develop science-based recommendations to prevent disease, disabilities, and premature death related to plastics and to reduce externalized economic costs, as well as to arrive at a more circular economy. Further planned works of the Commission include educating “physicians and public health workers about the full range of plastic’s hazards to human health” and informing “international leaders as they strive to fulfill the urgent call of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) to end plastic pollution.” In June 2022, UNEA adopted a resolution to “End Plastic Pollution” in which 175 nations agreed to create an international, legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution until 2024 (FPF reported).
The authors emphasized that there is a solution to plastic pollution, that this challange can be overcome in the same way and with the same tool with which many countries have managed to control air pollution and cleaned up polluted marine areas.
The Commission is coordinated by the Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College and plans to release its findings and recommendation in Monaco in March 2023.
Earlier this year, the Minderoo Foundation has published a protocol for a systematic review of human in vivo studies related to exposure from chemicals in plastics (FPF reported). Besides the foundation has opened a lab together with the University of Queensland to study micro- and nanoplastics in human blood and tissue samples (FPF reported).
Reference
Landrigan, P. J. et al. (2022). “Announcing the Minderoo – Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health.” Annals of Global Health. DOI: 10.5334/aogh.3916
