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Plastic Health Council as compass for UN plastics treaty
14 June 2023
The plastic crisis is turning into a health crisis. This realisation should guide further international negotiations on a UN plastics treaty. Earlier this month, the Plastic Health Council was therefore introduced, an initiative of Plastic Soup Foundation and A Plastic Planet, with one mission: to put the harmful human health impacts of plastics and its chemicals at the heart of the Global Plastics Treaty. The council consists of eminent scientists.
The council presented the white paper Protecting future generations from the manmade plastic health crisis in Paris, during the second round of plastic treaty negotiations.
NEGOTIATING THE PLASTICS TREATY
Momentum is building up to enhance an international plastics treaty. Every six months, there is a round of negotiations. The draft treaty text should be ready by the end of next year and the plastics treaty should come into force in 2025. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) is leading the process. The second round of negotiations recently took place in Paris.
The stakes are high over the content of the treaty. Which targets will be mandated? One of the positive achievements thus far is that it was agreed that internationally binding measures will form the basis of the treaty.
HEALTH A BLIND SPOT
The fact that plastics can lead to health damage is common knowledge. We inhale and ingest microplastics and come into contact with the chemicals added during plastic production. According to WWF, 95 member countries are advocating the elimination of problematic polymers and risky chemicals. At the same time, it promotes plastic recycling as one of the key solutions. As long as the harmful chemicals contained within recycled plastic are unknown, the world should stay on just that course.
PLASTIC MORE TOXIC THROUGH RECYCLING
With the promotion of (chemical) recycling as a solution to the plastic crisis, especially by countries and companies that want to continue their plastic production and use for as long as possible, relatively little attention has been paid to the health risks posed by these ‘solutions’. That is why the Plastic Health Council presented a white paper, with ten action points. Some of the key points to include in the treaty text include:
- the explicit statement that plastic is a cause of harm to human and environmental health
- the explicit statement that (chemical) recycling is not a solution to the plastic crisis
- drastic reduction targets for plastic production
- a global ban on toxic additives for plastics
- mandatory testing of plastic products for toxicity before sale.
Maria Westerbos of the Plastic Soup Foundation attended the negotiations in Paris. Click here for the broadcast Vroege Vogels (in Dutch) in which she talks about this.
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