A review of the scientific literature based on more than 1,700 studies made in 38 countries has estimated the deaths and the cases of cardiovascular diseases that have been associated in the recent past with exposure to certain chemicals released by common plastics. The good news is that the stricter regulations that are currently applied seem to be effective and they have already brought benefits (and costs, of course) to public health.
Plastics and their toxicity
As they write Maureen Cropper, from the University of Maryland, in the USA, and her colleagues in the pages of the magazine Pnasthere are more than 16,000 chemicals in plastics that give them various properties, such as color, flexibility and durability. However, some of these substances can release over timeso it is advisable to monitor the effects of exposure. So much so that some countries, such as the United States, South Korea and Canada, have also created public databases to monitor the levels of certain substances in blood and urine samples.
In their analysis, which included more than 1,700 studies conducted in 38 countries (representing approximately one third of the world’s population), the researchers focused in particular on three substances that have often been associated with human toxicity: bisphenol A (BPA), the di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The first two are used in plastic food packaging, while the latter are flame retardants and are also used in furniture and electronic components.
The calculations, based on a combination of data from medical records and toxicology reports, showed that in 2015around 5.4 million cases of coronary heart disease and 346 thousand strokes were associated with exposure to BPAand that around 164 thousand deaths in people aged 55 to 64 years may have been due to DEHP. On the other hand, they would have been “lost” 11.7 million IQ points due to maternal exposure to BPA. The public health costs would amount to approximately 1.5 billion dollars.
Benefits of the new regulations
Fortunately, it seems that the new stricter regulations introduced in the first decade of the new millennium have had the desired effect: exposure has decreased and, with it, the damage to health and the associated health costs. The researchers estimate, for example, that if exposure to BPA and DEHP had remained at 2015 levels in USA Since 2003, there have been some 515,000 fewer deaths in that period of time; Furthermore, if PBDE levels in mothers had remained at 2015 levels since 2005, they would have “saved” more than 42 million IQ points.
It must be remembered, however, that these are estimates, approximations and, as the authors of the work themselves point out, the lack of accurate data for all countries it is a limitation. Only by introducing more effective exposure control systems could a clearer understanding of the phenomenon be obtained.
Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapted by Mauricio Serfatty Godoy.
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