Plastic – The Silent Killer

Oceanographers noticed the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, which is a gyre of marine debris, and brought the global menace of plastic pollution to the public domain.

Plastic has affected the soil, ground water and entered our food chain today. At a macroscopic level, it clogs drains, pollutes soil by large landfills and affects water bodies including lakes, rivers and oceans. At a microscopic level, various toxic substances used as additives to plastic manufacturing including colourants, plasticisers, stabilisers, flame-retardants, blowing agents and biocides have hazardous health implications. Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic and exposure to such chemicals can lead to cancer, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments in animal models.

When the water bottle is exposed to heat, or when plastic containers are used for heating food in microwaves, there is a release of harmful dioxins and trace metals which can then enter the human body. Cadmium in small amounts can affect gastrointestinal tract and the heart. Zinc in small amounts, over a long time, can affect neuronal tissues. What’s astounding is, micro plastics – plastic pieces smaller than 5 mm – have been found in all forms of marine life from plankton to whales to sea birds.

They can absorb and concentrate organic pollutants (PCBs and DDT) from the surrounding seawater. High concentrations of micro plastics have been found in the stomach and intestines and smaller amounts have been detected in blood, lymph and the liver in animal studies. A small pilot study found several types of plastic in human stool samples, with an average of 20 micro-particles per 10g of stool, presented at a gastroenterology congress in Vienna, recently.

The long term ill-effects of plastic on human beings is still not completely understood. But it wouldn’t be farfetched to extrapolate the impact on marine life onto us human beings. It is therefore imperative that there is reduction in the amount of plastic produced and consumed, redesigning of plastic products to make them recyclable and reusable, and having mechanisms in place for plastic waste handling. A summary ban will take a heavy toll on the thriving plastic industry and the largely dependent low socio-economic strata making it poorly sustainable for developing and fragile economies. India is moving towards eliminating plastic by 2022, which is commendable. It will indeed be a huge challenge for enforcement agencies. Government policies must be aligned to reforming and reorganizing this huge plastic industry, and environmentalists’ need to focus on innovative ways of educating, creating awareness to coming up with solutions and alternatives.