Plastics Crisis as a Health Crisis: International Health Community Response to Plastic Pollution

Описание: The plastics crisis is a health crisis. While we are still discovering the extent to which plastics affect human health, what is known is of great concern. A growing body of scientific research has documented the wide range of adverse implications that plastics and plastic have for human health, especially for people and communities in the most vulnerable situations, including neurotoxic, carcinogenic, immune- and endocrine-disrupting impacts.

In light of the World Health Assembly agenda item on the impacts of chemicals, waste and pollution (including plastic pollution) on human health this year, it is imperative to strengthen the public health community’s understanding of the harms to human health that plastics pose throughout the full lifecycle. While communities on the frontline of plastic production and manufacturing face some of the highest risks, reports have shown that plastics are entering our bodies worldwide as it leaches into our food and water and contaminates every compartment of the environment. Further risks to human health exist through the plastics burning, incineration and recycling processes which have a particularly severe impact on already vulnerable communities and are interfering with critical infrastructure to deliver clean water and sanitation.

This event is an opportunity for ministry of health representatives and members of the global plastics treaty negotiations to develop an understanding of the harms posed by plastics to human health, the public health dimensions of the plastics crisis, and the role of the public health community in addressing the plastics crisis as a health crisis in the context of the global plastics treaty negotiations.

The session aims to foster shared understanding of the latest evidence on how plastics poses harms to human health, the public health dimensions of plastic pollution, the role of the public health community in addressing the plastics crisis as a health crisis in the context of the global plastics treaty negotiations. In so doing, the session will foster a dialogue on coherent approaches and frameworks to support the public health community’s engagement in the global plastics treaty process and tackle the plastics crisis in ways that are environmentally sound while promoting the highest attainable standard of health in the context of sustainable development priorities.

More information: https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork....