Plastic on Plate-Plasticizers and Child Health

Abstract

An estimated 400 million metric tonnes of plastics were globally produced in 2019 and with the advent of covid-19 pandemic, the production and distribution of plastics has dramatically escalated, leading to unintended massive environmental contamination [13]. This colossal indiscriminate production caters to the unregulated demand for plastic-made consumer products (including covid-19 masks, shields, gloves and protective medical gears), utilized on a daily basis, consequently leading to increased production and leaching of plasticizers, which are added to improve the quality of plastics and associated products. These plasticizing chemicals are also worryingly used in food processing and packaging industry [4] leading to increased migration into food items and human body through ingestion, inadvertently exposing the population to their endocrine and immune-disrupting properties. Moreover, recent evidence of increasing human, wildlife and marine contamination with micro-plastics, microbeads and nano-plastics [5-9], which are also deliberately added to several consumer and personalcare items such as toothpaste and cosmetics, and are detectable in table salt, tea bags, fish, shellfish and seaweed, industrially processed, packaged and canned food, have incrementally contributed to the gargantuan problem of plastic ingestion and chemical toxicity.