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Plastics Treaty INC-5
International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 2024
New Report: Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Threats to Human Health
Chemical Recycling: A Dangerous Deception
See StopPoisonPlastic.org - our website on toxic plastics
Video: Plastics Poisoning Our Health
New Report: The Arctic’s Plastic Crisis

Press Release
Attn: Environment, Health, and News Editors
Contacts:
Björn Beeler, IPEN, Bjornbeeler@ipen.org
Lee Bell, IPEN leebell@ipen.org,
Jindrich Petrlik, Arnika Association: jindrich.petrlik@arnika.org

Toxic Chemicals in Plastic Waste Poisoning People in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe & Latin America

(Report and Press Release)

Plastic Waste Poisoning Food and Threatening Communities in Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe and Latin America</a> 
						</h3>

Gothenburg, Sweden Toxic chemicals in plastic waste exports from wealthy countries are contaminating food in developing/transition countries around the world, according to a new study released today by the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN).

Virtually all plastics contain hazardous chemical additives. Most of the plastic waste exported from wealthy countries to countries with developing economies or economies in transition is landfilled, burned, or dumped into waterways. All of these disposal methods result in highly toxic emissions that remain in the environment for decades and build up in the food chain.

Plastic Waste Poisoning Food and Threatening Communities in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America demonstrates how these plastic waste handling methods end up poisoning local populations.

For this study, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in fourteen countries which in many cases receive plastic waste from abroad collected free-range chicken eggs in the vicinity of various plastic waste disposal sites and facilities. The egg collection sites included plastic and electronic waste yards; waste dumpsites with significant amounts of plastic wastes; recycling and shredder plants which deal with significant amounts of plastic waste; and waste incineration and waste-to-energy operations.

Both the African environment and the human health of Africans suffer from toxic chemicals and imported wastes more than in developed countries. Africa has become the destination of illegal toxic waste exports and, as this study shows, toxic chemicals are also present in toys, kitchen utensils, and other consumer products sold in African markets.

Hair samples in four Latin American countries show high mercury from food chain poisoned by gold-mining

Press Release
Attn: Environment, Health, and News Editors
Contacts:
Björn Beeler, IPEN, Bjornbeeler@ipen.org
Lee Bell, IPEN leebell@ipen.org, +61 417196604
David Evers, Biodiversity Research Institute david.evers@briloon.org
Tim Tear, Biodiversity Research Institute, tim.tear@briloon.org

New study finds indigenous Bolivian women have extremely high mercury levels in their bodies and also reveals high mercury levels among women in Latin American gold mining countries.

(Report and Press Release (English, Spanish, Portuguese))

Cover of Mercury exposure of women in Four Latin American gold mining countries

Gothenburg, Sweden Women in three Latin American countries who rely on fish for protein and live in proximity to gold mining activity have been found to have elevated mercury levels in their bodies, according to a new study, Mercury Exposure of Women in Four Latin American Gold Mining Countries. The study was conducted by the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) together with the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) and analyzed mercury levels in women of child-bearing age who are most sensitive to the toxic effects of mercury. Women in gold mining regions in Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia volunteered to be assessed for the study. A cohort of Colombian women in a region that has switched from mercury-based gold extraction to non-mercury methods were included as a control group for comparison and were shown to have low levels of mercury in their bodies.

Hair samples were taken from women of child-bearing age in small-scale gold mining regions and analyzed for total mercury content, indicating their body burden of the highly toxic metal. Mercury is used by small-scale miners to extract gold particles from low-grade ore, and most of the mercury is lost to the environment where it contaminates fish in the local rivers.

In recent years in Brazil, different economic sectors have been acting to modify Brazilian pesticides legislation, which would have serious impacts on human health and the environment. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down legislative discussions; however, several sub-legal changes published by regulatory agencies have been put into practice. As a result, pesticide products that had already had their ban announced in Brazil, such as the herbicide paraquat, now do not have a definitive decision for use. Additionally, new pesticide products have been commercially released without proper and thorough information on the safety of chronic exposure; in particular, on the toxicological interactions of the mixture of active principles present in the formulated products.

The ABRASCO (Associação Brasileira de Saùde Coletiva) NGO in Brazil has undertaken a study examining the damages to health and the environment that may result from this deregulation scenario, focusing on the most vulnerable groups in both rural and urban use of agrochemicals. The findings are presented via an overview of these breakdowns during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study in Europe Find "Forever Chemicals" Are Widespread in Disposable Packaging

Prague/Brussels/London A recent study by Arnika found PFAS in a huge percentage of food packaging materials and tableware in popular fast-food chains across Europe. In cooperation with six other NGOs including IPEN, the study found that 76% of the samples tested were intentionally treated with PFAS, which is a class of chemicals frequently used for their oil- and grease-repellent properties. Additionally, traces of PFAS were detected in all samples, which should not be surprising given how they do not break down easily and migrate into water and the enviroment, earning them their "forever chemicals" moniker. All of the materials tested were items intended for a single use, including items for which sustainable alternatives exist.

“It is high time for the European Union to act and immediately and permanently ban the entire class of PFAS in food packaging, to protect the consumers in the first place. It is clearly not essential to use highly toxic and persistent chemicals, posing such a serious health and environmental risk, in throw-away food packaging, especially when there are safer alternatives,” says Jitka Strakova, the main author of the study and Arnika/International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) science advisor.

Read the press release

Press Release

Quezon City, Philippines A non-profit environmental health watchdog group monitoring compliance to the country’s ban on lead paint today revealed its discovery of six more spray paints with excessive levels of lead, bringing the number of violative aerosol paint products it had found to 56.

According to the latest ALERTOXIC issued by the EcoWaste Coalition, lead content analysis performed by a private laboratory detected lead up to a whopping 99,900 parts per million (ppm) on six bright color Tacoma Spray Paints, which the group purchased last April 14 from a hardware store chain.

Escalating Chemical Production Threatens Aquatic Food Chain

Press Release
Attn: Health, News, and Environment Editors
Contacts:
Björn Beeler, IPEN, Bjornbeeler@ipen.org
Jo Immig, NTN, evolve@joimmig.com

Chemical Pollution Causes Fish Declines

(Report)

Cover of Aquatic Pollutants in Oceans and Fisheries

Gothenburg, Sweden Increasing levels of chemical and plastic pollution are major contributors to declines in the world’s fish populations and other aquatic organisms, according to a new report released today. The report is the first to bring together in one place the latest scientific research demonstrating how chemical pollution is adversely impacting the aquatic food chain that supports all life on earth.

“Many people think fish declines are just the result of overfishing. In fact, the entire aquatic food web has been seriously compromised, with fewer and fewer fish at the top, losses of invertebrates in the sediments and water column, less healthy marine algae, coral, and other habitats, as well as a proliferation of bacteria and toxic algal blooms. Chemical pollution, along with climate change, itself a pollution consequence, are the chief reasons for these losses,” said Dr. Matt Landos, report author and Director of Future Fisheries Veterinary Services.

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