We are surrounded by plastics. Much of our furniture, clothing, electronics, and food packaging is made from it. Over the past decades, natural materials used in manufacturing such as paper, glass, and cotton, have been replaced by plastic. We know that this ubiquitous use of plastics has led to extreme plastic pollution of our environment. However, plastics aren’t just an environmental issue. As pointed out by toxicologist Prof. dr. Dick Vethaak “we are dealing with a human health issue as well”.
Plastics may affect our health via three pathways:
- We eat, drink and breathe microplastics every day. These small plastic particles may harm our health once they have entered our bodies.
- Plastic products contain chemical additives. A number of these chemicals have been associated with serious health problems such as hormone-related cancers, infertility and neurodevelopment disorders like ADHD and autism.
- When plastics and microplastics end up in the environment, they attract micro-organisms, such as harmful bacteria (pathogens). If microplastics containing these pathogens enter our body, they may increase the risk of infection.
With more and more alarm bells ringing about the suspected health risks that plastic poses, new scientific research is needed now more than ever. That’s why the Plastic Soup Foundation has created a new research and advocacy alliance: the Plastic Health Coalition. With this coalition, various national and international environmental and research organisations have joined forces to encourage, enhance, and disseminate scientific research into the health effects of plastic.
This website is a public knowledge platform for anyone interested in learning more about the potential health impacts of (micro- and nano) plastics and their additives. The latest scientific findings are presented, as well as the latest (inter) national news on plastic and health. You can find news items on our ticker tape on the homepage.
Read the latest newsDo you want to know if there are plastics or dangerous plastic additives in your drinking water, tea bags, vacuum cleaner bags, meat, furniture, wet wipes, or toothpicks? We sure do! That’s why we’re going to test a wide variety of products over the course of at least three years. All these products and more will be tested in a lab at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) of Amsterdam, under the supervision of Dr. Heather Leslie.
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This video shows us that we all need to go on a plastic diet. By doing so you can reduce the amount of plastic you use. We provide you with the right alternatives to prevent yourself from getting sick because of the toxic chemicals sometimes added to plastics.
Start your plastic diet now