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IPEN Resources for the Plastics Treaty INC-1
New Video: Plastics Poisoning Our Health
How the UNEA Plastics Resolutions Relates to Chemicals and Health
Plastic Poisons the Circular Economy
Plastics, Plastic Waste, and Chemicals in Africa
Plastics, EDCs & Health Report Links Chemical Additives and Health Effects
No System Proposed or in Use Can Meet Next Decade’s Explosion in Plastic Waste

Press Release
Attn: Environment, Health, and News Editors
Contacts:
Björn Beeler, IPEN, Bjornbeeler@ipen.org
Lee Bell, IPEN leebell@ipen.org

Plastic Recycling Schemes Generate High Volumes of Hazardous Waste

No System Proposed or in Use Can Meet Next Decade’s Explosion in Plastic Waste

(Report and Press Release)

ALT_TEXT

Gothenburg, Sweden Major investments in chemical recycling, plastic-to-fuel, and incineration to manage plastic waste is generating high volumes of highly hazardous waste and toxic emissions, according to a new report released today.

The report Plastic Waste Management Hazards is the first study providing a detailed account of how current investments in recycling schemes, both mechanical and chemical, will have very little impact on a growing, worldwide plastic pollution problem and will increase exposure to toxic chemicals in the communities where they are located.

Report co-author and IPEN POPs Policy Advisor, Lee Bell said, “No current management method for plastic waste is capable of alleviating the world’s expanding plastic pollution crisis. All methods generate significant toxic hazards because of the toxic additives that are a component of most plastic products. Industry’s championing of various recycling schemes is a marketing ploy designed to fend off plastic regulation and efforts to curb an escalating plastic pollution problem. The only solution to the plastic waste piling up in our communities and oceans is to limit plastic production to essential uses and eliminate the use of toxic chemicals in plastics.”

Quezon City, Philippines A groundbreaking Chemical Control Order (CCO) promulgated by the Government of the Philippines banning lead in the manufacture of all paints to prevent children’s and workers’ exposure to this toxic chemical was adjudged one of the five winners for this year’s Future Policy Award (FPA), also known as the “Oscar on best policies.” Other awardees are from Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka and Sweden.

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu thanked the World Future Council (WFC) for the recognition. “This will inspire us to further strengthen the implementation of our chemical control policy and to develop other policies to protect human health and the environment,” he said. “Our drive to ensure safer lead-free paint products does not end with the issuance of this policy,” he emphasized, citing the government's continuing efforts to “strengthen monitoring to enhance environmental compliance among stakeholders and thereby ensure a healthy and lead-free environment for our people.”

Cimatu likewise acknowledged partners from the public and private sectors, including the EcoWaste Coalition and the Philippine Association of Paint Manufacturers (PAPM), for their participation in the development and implementation of the trailblazing CCO. “We appreciate the vigilance of non-government organizations like the EcoWaste Coalition in the lead phase-out campaign. We also commend the academe and the PAPM for their support in making our CCO implementable.” The CCO issued in 2013 imposes a total lead content limit of 90 parts per million (ppm) on all paints and provides for a two-stage phase-out of lead-containing paints, which culminated on December 31, 2019.

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> 
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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

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