Commentary: The impact of plastics

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The recent executive order that reverses the push for paper straws in favor of plastic ones — based on the claim that paper straws don’t work (which, by the way, isn’t true) — is about way more than just straws. It is designed to undercut the former administration’s 2022 initiative to phase out single-use plastics, including straws, containers and bottles from federal buildings by 2032.

While the administration’s executive order focus might seem to be shining a light on a seemingly trivial issue, it is a symptom of a much larger, and much more alarming, problem: plastic pollution and its impact on all of us.

Plastic is a human health crisis in the making and this decision is more than absurd — it’s actually dangerous.

Firstly, while banning plastic straws specifically is not all about saving turtles and trashing the ocean, we are in fact by using them helping to trash the oceans. Plastics have become a pervasive pollutant with 8 million tons of plastic dumped in our oceans every single year, killing marine life, including whales and seabirds at an alarming rate. One million sea turtles alone die every year from ingesting plastic trash. That represents 10% of the entire global population.

Researchers estimate there are around 199 million tons of plastic contaminating our marine environment already and every year we do not take action and instead back plastic, that number rises.

Much of this largely single-use plastic, like straws, eventually breaks down into microplastics, smaller than a grain of rice. So, when we eat fish we are consuming all the plastic junk and chemicals they have been ingesting too. Which might help to explain why scientists have found plastic particles in human brains, lungs, hearts and even placentas. We are poisoning our own babies with plastics, even before they are born.

These microplastics are harmful in their own right but they also leach out toxic plastic chemicals, like bisphenol A and phthalates, both known endocrine disruptors. Exposure to these chemicals in early development can have lifelong effects on a child’s health, from developmental delays to ADHD, autism and increased risks of certain cancers. These chemicals are even linked to miscarriages and infertility.

We already know that babies and infants appear to be ingesting high levels of microplastics because a study by scientists from Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland, discovered they had more than 10 times higher rates of microplastics in their feces samples than adults.

From the moment we wake up to the time we go to sleep, we are being exposed to microplastics — whether through the food we eat, the water we drink or the air we breathe.

The harmful effects of plastics on human health should be a primary concern for any administration that claims to value human life. So, the president’s focus on supporting plastic straws is worryingly indicative of a disregard for the growing scientific consensus on the dangers of microplastics and the chemicals used to make plastics in general.

This decision to roll back a policy aimed at reducing plastic waste isn’t just a misguided nod to convenience, it’s a big win for “Big Oil.” Why? Because plastics are made from petrochemicals; this order therefore supports the fuel industry, an industry already wreaking havoc on our planet by fueling climate change.

If we are serious about safeguarding human health, we must shift away from our throwaway plastic culture that has dominated our society for decades. The impacts of plastic pollution on our health and our babies’ too are far-reaching and catastrophic.

It’s time for our leaders to prioritize the health of people, not the interests of the plastic industry. As the debate over plastic straws continues, which it will, we need to refocus the conversation on the real, life-threatening dangers posed by plastic pollution.

It is time to recognize that this is not a fight over a straw — it is a fight for children’s health, which is why EARTHDAY.ORG is running an End Plastic Initiatives — so we can continue to drive public support around making a stand against plastic pollution and in the process protect our planet — and more importantly our health — for generations to come.

The fight continues. Plastic is toxic. Don’t go back to Plastics.

Aidan Charron is associate director of Global Earth Day, based in Washington, D.C.