Three toxic chemicals commonly found in plastics have caused people around the world to face premature death, chronic disease and lower IQ, according to a new study co-authored by Yongjoon Park, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The study analyzed data from 38 countries in 2015, representing one-third of the world’s population, to understand the impact of eliminating three toxic chemicals from plastics, according to a UMass Amherst news release.
An estimated 600,000 lives would have been saved if two of the chemicals were eliminated in countries with one-third of the world’s population, the researchers found. Meanwhile, the economic benefit of reducing exposure to the three toxic chemicals totaled $1.5 trillion, the study found.
“More than 16,000 chemicals are incorporated into plastics to produce color, flexibility and durability, but we know very little about how most of them affect human health,” said Park, assistant professor of resource economics at UMass Amherst .
“Looking at just three chemicals, we found significant health and economic costs, and we believe these estimates are quite conservative,” Park said in a statement.
The first chemical the researchers looked at was bisphenol A, also known as BPA. It is commonly found in food packaging and is an endocrine disruptor associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and reproductive disorders, according to the UMass Amherst news release.
The researchers also investigated di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, also known as DEHP, in the study. DEHP is commonly used in industrial processing of food, household products and electronics. It has been linked to cardiovascular mortality and developmental problems, according to the news release.
The last chemical the researchers investigated was polybrominated diphenyl ethers, also known as PBDEs, which are commonly used as flame retardants and added to synthetic textiles, furniture and other household products. It can harm the cognitive development of children in the womb, according to the statement.
What were the impacts?
The researchers found that exposure to the chemical BPA was associated with 5.4 million cases of heart disease and 346,000 strokes, resulting in 431,000 deaths and an economic cost of nearly $1 trillion.
Researchers found that exposure to the chemical DEHP, especially for people aged 55 to 64, was associated with 164,000 deaths and created an economic toll of $398 billion.
Meanwhile, reducing PBDE exposure in pregnant women could have saved 11.7 million IQ points in children born in 2015, with productivity losses estimated to have exceeded $80 billion, according to the study
The United States, Canada and some members of the European Union have tried to reduce exposure to these three chemicals in products, which has helped improve countries’ health over time, the statement said.
Cardiovascular mortality from BPA exposure fell 60% between 2003 and 2015 in the United States due to regulatory and voluntary measures by manufacturers, according to the press release.
“In the United States, where we have exposure data going back to 2003, health damage was much greater in the past,” said lead researcher Maureen L. Cropper, a professor at the University of Maryland, in a statement
At the same time, the researchers said that more than 70% of the chemicals in plastics have not been tested to determine whether or not they are toxic.
The researchers recommended that international agreements under the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty be created to help reduce the health effects of these chemicals.
“Protecting human health against the dangers of chemicals in plastics will require a paradigm shift in national chemical legislation,” the researchers said.