How Does Plastic Waste Affect Humans?

Plastic is made to last forever, taking many hundreds of years to break down – yet most of it is used just once, perhaps even only for a few minutes, straws, water bottles and bags for example, and then thrown away. Humans have managed to dump tonnes upon tonnes of this into the world’s oceans.

There is so much plastic in the oceans that it has accumulated in plastic “islands” in the oceans. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex or gyre, is located in the central North Pacific Ocean and is larger than the state of Texas. There are also plastic islands in the Indian and Atlantic oceans. The patches are defined as containing a higher amount of plastic as compared to surrounding oceans. To date, five patches in total have been discovered, the plastics drift on the currents and then accumulate where currents converge.

One of the most devastating elements of this pollution is that plastics takes thousands of years to decay. As a result, fish and wildlife are becoming intoxicated. Consequently the toxins from the plastics have entered the food chain, threatening human health.

As far as plastic entering the ocean, about 20% of the rubbish comes from ships and platforms that are offshore. The rest comes from litter being blown into the sea, picked up by tides on the beach, or intentional garbage dumping. The worse part is, these plastics don’t biodegrade, so they break up into tiny pieces that are consumed by fish and sea mammals. Plastic is killing more than 100,000 sea turtles and birds a year from ingestion and entanglement. The fish eat the plastic particles, then we eat the fish.

There is growing concern over the potential impact on human health of toxic substances released by plastic waste in the ocean. Scientists are studying whether contaminants linked to cancer, reproductive problems and other health risks can enter the food chain when ingested by marine animals.

Not only could plastic waste affect our health, but it can also have an impact on peoples’ livelihoods. The build-up of plastic on beaches and shorelines can impact areas that are heavily reliant on tourism. Heavy items of marine debris can also damage habitats such as coral reefs and affect the foraging and feeding habits of marine animals.

A study published in 2018 suggested that as many as 50% of the world population of humans will have micro plastics in their digestive system. Micro plastics have been found in drinking water around the world, and a study in Italy found traces of plastic particles in soft drinks. Scientists think that we are ingesting plastic from fish, but also picking some up from plastic bottles that we drink from, and even from food packaging.

Plastic use is so pervasive in modern life that removing it entirely from the food chain would be extremely difficult. A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number is expected to jump another 20% by 2021.

There is growing concern over the potential impact on human health of toxic substances released by plastic waste in the ocean. Scientists are studying whether contaminants linked to cancer, reproductive problems and other health risks can enter the food chain when ingested by marine animals.

Scientists are scrambling to understand the dose at which micro plastics start to have noticeable health effects. Like air pollution or harmful construction materials, those who have more exposure or pre-existing conditions may be less able to tolerate plastic.

We have all heard that plastic affects the oceans and ocean animals, but the thought that plastic in the sea can get into our bodies and affect our health should make us all take a lot more notice.