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Thanks to new legal tools, people around the world could sue plastic manufacturers for damages totaling more than $20 billion by 2030, with most lawsuits occurring in the United States, according to new research. doing.
Published by Australia’s Minderoo Foundation, the report says the plastics industry costs society about $100 billion a year for environmental cleanup, ecosystem degradation, shortened life expectancy and cures. Estimated. Minderoo is a charity focused on the environment, climate and more.
Dominic Charles, Director of Finance and Transparency at the Minderoo Foundation and one of the study’s co-authors, said, “The negative impacts of plastics on human health are at least the same as the environmental risks associated with plastics that tend to dominate the conversation. “The work of actually quantifying these social costs has been really eye-opening,” he told EHN.
To estimate these costs, researchers reviewed over 5,000 academic papers to determine where there is scientific consensus on the health hazards associated with plastic ingredients. We then estimated global morbidity and mortality associated with exposure to these ingredients and calculated public health costs. Finally, they worked with a group of lawyers who specialize in risk modeling for investors and insurers to estimate the likely liability faced by plastic manufacturers.
“The challenge is that plastic is completely ubiquitous, so it’s very difficult to pinpoint the source of harmful exposures,” Charles explained. We come to the somewhat absurd conclusion that it doesn’t matter if it’s toxic or not.
The unfolding lawsuits related to other ubiquitous chemicals such as PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances), glyphosate and even opioids are forging new legal pathways, the report notes. In the case of PFAS, the chemicals are ubiquitous and many companies sell products containing them, but only a handful of them make them, and those companies are being sued. I’m here. The story is similar when it comes to the most harmful additives in plastic products, Charles said.
“Plaintiffs in these cases are using innovative legal arguments, particularly related to pollution theories, to successfully advance these cases,” Charles said. “We also believe that this kind of new legal strategy will open the door for plastic litigation.”
How are plastics harming us?
Investigations are still ongoing, but the report said, “There is a strong scientific consensus that some of the chemical performance-enhancing additives used in plastics cause harm to human health.” I am concluding.
These include certain phthalates, bisphenols (such as BPA and its substitutes), and flame retardants. All three of these classes of chemicals contain endocrine-disrupting compounds that can cause problems with the body’s hormonal system, leading to infertility, early puberty, developmental disorders such as ADHD and autism, and type II diabetes and obesity. associated with serious health problems such as metabolic disorders in There is also evidence that it increases the risk of cancer.
The study estimates that manufacturers of these chemical additives are most likely to be exposed to lawsuits resulting from these health hazards. Manufacturers of these types of chemicals include BASF, Includes companies such as Dow Chemical Company, Eastman Chemical Company, and ExxonMobil Corporation.
Researchers also explore new research into the health hazards associated with micro- or nano-plastics (tiny pieces of plastic that humans ingest from tap water, bottled water, seafood, salt, milk, fruits and vegetables). Did. Exposure is associated with respiratory, immune, reproductive, digestive problems, and increased cancer risk.
“Microplastics or nanoplastics have the same kind of persistence in the environment as PFAS chemicals,” Charles said. “These proceedings will have a lot to do with the future of plastic litigation.”
Charles added that while these lawsuits could total billions of dollars, they have not kept up with the social costs, especially in the short term. He said it would take years before he started piecing together how harmful they were. It will still take many years.
RELATED: US lags most of the world in plastic pollution laws
“So the threat of liability is not acting as a sufficient precaution right now,” he said. “We also need to change the way we regulate these chemicals.”
The American Chemical Society, a trade and lobbying group for chemical manufacturers, said the report was “disconnected from reality” and released a statement highlighting the importance of plastics to modern medicine and innovation. A group spokesperson addressed certain aspects of the report that the board disagreed with, as well as potential litigation related to the group’s own risk assessment and health and environmental harm from plastic. declined to answer questions about whether
What does this mean for petrochemical development?
Shell’s new petrochemical complex in southwest Pennsylvania.
Credits: Nate Smallwood for Environmental Health News and Sierra Magazine
In the first 13 years of the 21st century, plastics manufacturing surpassed the total output of the last century, with production doubling again within 20 years and expected to nearly quadruple or even triple by 2050. increase. Lawsuits can slow that growth.
“This report basically tells us that when you invest in plastics, you are taking a calculated risk and the threat is looming,” says progressive thinkers Energie and the Ohio River Valley Institute. Sean O’Leary, a senior researcher specializing in petrochemicals, said. Tank, told EHN.
O’Leary, who was not involved in Minderoo’s work, is an Appalachian Ohio River Basin that spans parts of western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Tennessee. He said petrochemical development in China was already hampered by unfavorable conditions. Market conditions for plastics.
Shell is opening a large new plastics plant in the Ohio River Valley, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Use packaging and plastic bags. It’s one of five facilities proposed in the Ohio River Valley, but he’s only broken ground on one. None of the other projects are expected to move forward.
Other plans “not because they persuaded many investors to become more climate-conscious or environmentally conscious, but because they showed that these investments were unwise,” O’Leary said. increase.
“Shell will have to make additional investment decisions with respect to its factories and will have to at least take into account possible legal action and the risks it poses going forward.”
Residents near Shell plants have expressed concern about how the millions of tons of air pollution the plants produce each year affect their health. While only briefly acknowledging the responsibility involved, Charles said these communities are particularly at risk from the effects of industry.
“Exposures around production facilities are relatively small compared to the ubiquitous exposures and potential liability arising from plastics as a whole,” he said. “That said, they are probably easier to sue, and those lawsuits could be the first to be filed on plastic lawsuits.”
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