Plastics and (the right to) health

Hamley, Graham and Switzer, Stephanie; Kirk, Elizabeth A. and Popattanachai, Naporn and Barnes, Richard A. and van der Marel, Eva R., eds. (2024) Plastics and (the right to) health. In: Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Plastics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham. ISBN 9781802201512 (In Press)

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Abstract

In early March 2022, at the 5th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), a decision was made to begin negotiations on a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution. The UNEA resolution notes "the importance of cooperation, coordination and complementarity (…) to prevent plastic pollution and its related risks to human health and adverse effects on human wellbeing and the environment".1 The emphasis of the Resolution upon the impacts of plastics pollution on human health gives expression to the rapidly expanding body of research on the various risks that the full plastics life cycle poses to human health. The range of potential negative health outcomes is diverse, and includes cancers, reproductive and developmental issues, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.2 The potential impact of the plastics life cycle on health is directly relevant to the right to health. While plastics can threaten the right to life, not all adverse health outcomes from plastics are fatal. The threshold at which plastics threaten the enjoyment of the right to health is lower than that at which they threaten enjoyment of the right to life.

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