FUTURE FABRICS EXPO LONDEN
On June 25 and 26, the Future Fabrics Expo 2024 took place in London. The thrust of this fair is to show that it is quite possible to make clothes from sustainable materials.
Our health is seriously damaged by plastic and the chemicals in it
Amsterdam, August 20, 2024 – Today, the Australian Minderoo Foundation, in collaboration with the University of Adelaide, published a major study, the Plastic Health Umbrella Review, which systematically reviewed research data from thousands of scientific studies on exposure to plastic chemicals and their effects on human health.
It looked specifically at five classes of the most used plastic chemicals that we know people are exposed to: BPA (bisphenol A), phthalates (plasticisers), PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), both flame retardants, and PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
In conclusion, there is consistent and irrefutable evidence that plastic chemicals in every class studied are harmful to human health throughout the human life cycle.
It covers a wide range of health effects. Some of them are shocking.
Before and at birth, for example, these include miscarriages and genital malformations.
In childhood, chemicals in plastic can lead to (among other things) lower IQ, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, reduced sperm quality and cancer.
For adults, liver disease, malignant melanoma and insulin resistance are added, among many other health effects.
The conclusion is, not one of the plastic chemicals studied is safe.
But the substances studied are only a fraction of the thousands added to plastic. Most of them have not been adequately or even ever studied for effects on human health. The Minderoo Foundation therefore advocates taking precautionary measures.
Maria Westerbos, director Plastic Soup Foundation: “Minderoo hopes this report will influence the negotiations for a global plastics treaty. The fifth round will take place in three months’ time in Busan, South Korea. After all, it is no longer about ocean pollution, but about putting our own and our children’s health at risk. I fully agree with Minderoo”.
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On June two, 2024, Professor Dick Vethaak passed away. With him is lost a great and progressive scientist, but above all, a wonderful husband and father.
Towards a global Plastic Treaty
By the end of this year, there should be a global plastic treaty that will stop plastic pollution of our planet. To achieve this, the United Nations environment department is organising the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee on Plastic Pollution negotiations. The 4th round, INC4, took place in Ottawa Canada. The new plastics treaty is considered one of the most important environmental agreements made since the Paris climate accords in 2015. The stakes are high and that was evident in Ottawa.
Business has blind spot: 85% citizens are plastic tired
Eighty-five per cent of citizens want single-use plastic packaging to disappear completely. This is according to new research by Ipsos commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Plastic Free Foundation. Entrepreneurs who abandon packaging or make it more sustainable seem to have tapped into a goldmine – but part of the business community is still deaf and dumb. ‘People are getting fed up with all the plastic in the supermarket.’
