Health & Beauty
‘Born pre-polluted’
Microplastics discovered in human reproductive fluids, raising questions about potential risks to fertility and reproductive health.
4 July 2025
All plastics, from food packaging to car tyres, contain hundreds of chemicals that can leach into foodstuffs, homes and the environment.
Many of these are known to harm the health of humans and the environment. However, a comprehensive overview of these chemicals is currently missing, which limits society’s ability to protect people and planet from hazardous plastic chemicals.
A new peer-reviewed study, published in Nature, provides a comprehensive and systematically compiled overview of all chemicals that can be present in plastics – their properties, uses and hazards.
It encompasses both chemicals intentionally added during production and contaminants detected in plastics.
Importantly, the study provides a scientific approach for identifying chemicals of concern.
This allows scientists and manufacturers to develop safer plastics and policymakers to promote a non-toxic circular economy.
‘Plastics should not contain harmful chemicals to begin with. Yet, the scientific evidence shows that they are intentionally used or unintentionally present in all types of plastics. This underpins the urgent need to make plastics safer.’
MARTIN WAGNER
A lead author of the study and professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim
The new study shows that there are more plastic chemicals than previously known, with 16,325 chemicals included in the PlastChem database that accompanies the work.
Importantly, the scientists discovered at least 4,200 plastic chemicals are of concern because of the hazards they pose to health and the environment.
These chemicals of concern can be present in each major plastic type, including in food packaging, and all tested plastics can release hazardous chemicals.
‘This new scientific study should be the final straw to governments taking action on plastic. For decades we have been swallowing a false truth from the plastics industry who tell us they put a safe material on the market.
‘With 4,200 proven chemicals of concern for humans already in our food and drink packaging and our homes stuffed with plastic products, we need to say NO MORE.
‘Not an inch of our planet escapes the plastic chemical soup that pervades every facet of our lives. Our babies are born pre-polluted and we now know there’s more plastic in our brains than any other organ. We need to ask when enough will be considered enough by industry and policymakers.
‘This science is handing policymakers a clear framework to begin dismantling the plastic system – starting with the most harmful chemicals. They have no excuse to delay immediate action. Industry will not change without strong regulation.
‘Perhaps the UN Global Plastics Treaty will surprise us all at the final hurdle and deliver a robust Treaty that truly protects us. Let’s hope this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity does not slip through our fingers, compromised by the very industry that caused the crisis in the first place.’
SIAN SUTHERLAND
Co-founder, A Plastic Planet and Plastic Health Council
The new study outlines three major pathways towards safer and more sustainable plastics: safer chemicals, transparency and chemically simpler plastics.
Known chemicals of concern should be removed from plastics, either by voluntary industry action or regulation.
More transparency is needed, given that industry currently does not disclose which chemicals are present in which plastic product.
Finally, plastics should be re-designed to contain fewer chemicals that are thoroughly assessed for their safety, particularly if they are to be reused or recycled.
‘There is a lot of momentum to make plastics safer. Our study provides the scientific evidence needed to achieve that goal and better protect human health and the environment from chemicals of concern in plastics.’
DR LAURA MONCLÚS
A lead author of the study and researcher at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) in Trondheim
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