POISON PLASTICS
A new report and film from the Environmental Justice Foundation
As a draft of the global UN treaty to end plastic pollution is watered down by oil- and gas-producing nations, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has published a report exposing the extensive and inescapable impact of plastic chemicals on people around the world.
The Global Plastics Treaty is a proposed international legally-binding agreement from the UN Environment Programme with the aim of ending global plastic pollution.
We are facing an urgent plastics crisis. Plastics are choking our oceans, infiltrating our ecosystems and fuelling global climate breakdown. Plastics and the chemicals they contain have become deeply embedded in our lives within only a single generation. They are found in the vast majority of items we rely on every day – from food packaging and takeaway containers, to clothing, furniture, hygiene products, infant feeding bottles and children’s toys.
While global plastic production was under two million tonnes in 1950, today more than 430 million tonnes of plastics are produced annually.
In 2024, seven countries accounted for two thirds of the world's plastic production.
China led the way with producing 34% of the world's plastic. Beyond the other top six producers, this was the same percentage as the rest of the countries in the world combined.
The United States followed behind with 13% of the world's plastic production.
Saudi Arabia and South Korea came joint third, each accounting for 5% of the world's plastic production.
India came in fourth, at 4%.
Japan is in fifth, at 3%.
And Germany follows them, accounting for 2% of world's plastic production.
Countries benefitting from the multibillion dollar plastics market and petrochemical industry, including the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia, are doing their best to ensure that plastic production and consumption continue to escalate.
As it stands, plastic production has been projected to more than double by 2050 and more than triple by 2100.
All plastics are made of chemicals. This includes their polymer backbone, intentionally added substances such as additives and processing aids, and non-intentionally added substances such as impurities, by-products and degradation products.
This is something which Dr Stephanie Wright, the Associate Professor in Environmental Toxicology and Microplastics Lead at Imperial College London, discussed in EJF's new film, 'Poison Plastics'.
Alongside their rapidly mounting environmental impacts, plastics represent a direct and escalating threat to human health.
Plastic chemicals have been linked to acute and/or chronic health conditions, including hormone disruption, damage to vital organs, impairment of fertility and neurodevelopment, and increased risk of cancer and heart disease.
EJF's researcher Naima Fenderl, who worked on the new Poison Plastics report, discusses this in more detail.
Vulnerable groups, in particular infants, children and pregnant people, face heightened risks. Plastic-associated exposures have been linked to severe reproductive impacts such as stillbirth and premature birth, while early-life exposures can have lasting developmental effects and increase the risk of non-communicable diseases later in life.
In the context of ongoing negotiations for the Global Plastics Treaty, the Environmental Justice Foundation conducted novel analyses using the PlastChem database, which synthesises evidence on more than 16,000 chemical present in plastics.
This analysis reveals that over 90% of chemicals in everyday household items present a high risk to human health based on their toxicity and risk of exposure.
Of these high risk chemicals, EJF found that over 80% are not subject to regulation under any relevant multilateral environmental agreement and over half were not subject to regulation at the international level.
Last year’s treaty negotiations, which were labelled a ‘betrayal’ by some delegates, collapsed without reaching a final text. Discussions on plastic production reduction were blocked by a small minority of oil and plastic producing nations and when delegates met in Nairobi in early summer, some media reported the negotiations were only moving backwards. Specifically, items relating to production, health and chemicals have been forcefully rejected by the industry’s cheerleaders.
Until governments push to reduce plastic production, the onus is on consumers to manage their usage of plastic, but it is now so ubiquitous that this is becoming impossible.
EJF’s new research, which reveals the very real threat plastics pose to global health, should be the wake-up call delegates need to push for strong provisions to regulate the use of chemicals used in plastics, especially during production.
The last round of talks faltered because oil- and plastic-producing nations blocked progress on exactly these questions. The pressure has to build now, ahead of the next round of negotiations in March 2027.
Pressure is slowly growing. The Global Plastics Treaty has the potential to have a serious impact, but only if it is an ambitious deal that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics and controls the chemicals in plastic, not only the waste it becomes.
Alongside its clear political dimensions and business interests this is a deeply personal issue which affects each and every one of us, from waste pickers to the negotiators working on the Global Plastics Treaty. The plastic problem could not be more urgent: for the future of all humanity, we demand a strong, legally-binding treaty.
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