By Doug Wood

The worldwide scourge of plastic as a human health issue is reaching epic proportions. Not only have tiny pieces of plastic been found in human placentas, but last week a new study reported the presence of plastic particles in testicles. If that makes you squirm in your chair, it should.

We’re witnessing a historic decline in sperm counts in males, and the remnants of plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic diapers, plastic food packaging, synthetic fabric clothing, and vehicle tires that are showing up in our most sensitive organs may be partly to blame.

It stands to reason, of course. As we’ve written before in these pages, all plastic items, from your plastic laundry detergent bottle to the wrapping of your favorite candy bar, are made from a mixture of chemicals and fossil fuels.  Many of those chemicals are known to be toxic to humans. Some cause cancer, some disrupt the endocrine system, mimicking or interfering with the body’s hormones in ways that have serious implications.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, are particularly worrisome for children. In a little body that has been contaminated with tiny bits of plastic, some of which contain chemicals that mimic hormones, all kinds of chaos can result. A growing number of studies are suggesting that EDCs can contribute to early puberty (especially in girls), as well as obesity and diabetes.

Prenatal exposure to EDCs can affect fetal neurodevelopment resulting in attention deficit disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and cognitive and behavioral dysfunction.  The most susceptible time frame begins during the third trimester of pregnancy and continues through the first two years of life. Do pregnant women know this?

To be fair to the plastic industry, the pieces of plastic that we ingest from eating fish or hot dogs or tofu and the plastic that we inhale whenever we breathe are not our only source of EDCs.

These same chemical toxins can be found in cosmetics, food and beverage packaging, toys, carpet, pesticides, building materials, personal care products, cleaning products, clothes, and cooking pans. So why am I picking on plastic?

Epidemiologists studying toxic chemicals look for “pathways.” In other words, how does an exposure actually occur? Exactly how does the toxin find its way into the body? Some pathways are more direct than others. In the case of plastic, it couldn’t really be more direct. We eat it. We drink it. And we breathe it.

Every day. According to a study by the World Wildlife Fund, the average adult consumes about 2,000 tiny pieces of plastic each week, which is roughly the equivalent of eating a credit card. More recently, researchers at Columbia University found an average of 240,000 microscopic pieces of plastic in every 16-ounce bottle of water they tested.

So we know exactly how we’re being exposed to plastic and the chemicals that it contains.

And yet, the use of plastic is expanding. Plastic is the last, desperate lifeboat for the oil and gas industry as the world eschews the use of fossil fuels for energy. Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara estimate that global annual plastic production will rise 22% by 2050 and plastic pollution will jump 62% during that time.

Industry experts predict that 25 years from now, the world will be producing three times as much plastic as it does today.

I have to wonder about the testicles of the men (and the placentas of pregnant women) who sit on the boards of the petrochemical industries and devise new ways to increase the production of plastic while they simultaneously thwart government regulation at every step.

Is it that they don’t believe the science? Do they think they know better? Or do they have some secret way of avoiding the personal plastic contamination that the rest of the world is being subjected to?

I also wonder what people are thinking when I see them stocking up on shrink-wrapped plastic bottles of water ahead of a long summer weekend or putting their kitchen garbage out in neat white plastic bags. Do they not realize their bodies are being polluted with plastic, and they are unwittingly contributing? Or are they just busy with their lives, hoping and expecting that the government is regulating all the dangerous things in the world and that they can concentrate on living.

Well, that is the way it’s supposed to be. It’s not supposed to be the responsibility of every individual in the world to navigate the obstacle course of life, trying to reduce their exposure to all the different toxins in the environment that can cause harm. That’s the government’s job. And it’s what legislation and regulations are for.

Right now, as I write this, an army of oil and gas industry lobbyists is busy in Albany trying to stop a bill that would limit single-use plastic production.

The Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act would save taxpayers and municipalities money, force polluting companies to pay for the cost of their packaging waste, get many of the most toxic chemicals and substances out of packaging (such as lead, PFAS, formaldehyde, cadmium, and many more), and require companies to reduce single-use packaging by 50% over 12 years.

The industry is claiming this will cost jobs, and that the legislation isn’t necessary.

Well, if your state representatives start talking about defeating “job-killing” legislation or opposing “unnecessary” regulations, think about the plastic floating around inside your brain, your lungs, your heart, your eyeballs or your testicles, and then decide if you think tough government regulations on plastic pollution and toxic chemicals is a good thing or not.