It is Plastic Free July, a month all about raising awareness of plastic pollution and calling on people to avoid single-use plastic. In addition to the impact that plastic pollution has on wildlife and our environment, the harmful chemicals commonly used in plastics can threaten our health.  There are particular concerns about the impact of these chemicals on women’s health.

The individual building blocks of plastics, called monomers, are chemicals. Monomers are combined together to form polymers – which is plastic. However, a wide range of chemical additives can also be added to plastics, for example to soften plastic, colour it or make it less flammable.

Over 13,000 chemicals have been associated with plastic materials like polyethene, polycarbonates, polystyrene, and PVC. However, only 7,000 of these chemicals have enough available data to determine their impacts on people’s health or the environment. Of these 7,000, roughly half have at least one hazardous property of concern.

Certain chemicals used in the manufacture of plastic products are known or suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs are chemicals that can interfere with the body’s sensitive hormone system. Exposure to EDCs has been linked to reproductive issues, obesity, and hormone related cancers such as breast, prostate and testicular. Examples of EDCs that are used in plastics are some phthalates and bisphenols.

Women are disproportionately impacted by harmful chemicals, including those found in plastics. A recent talk by Johanna Hausmann, a senior policy advisor on chemicals and waste for Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), summarises how women can be specifically impacted by chemicals in plastics due to biological, workplace, consumption, and social gender factors.

For example, Hausmann highlights that chemicals can penetrate women’s skin more easily as it is thinner, and that women often work in chemical and plastic-intensive industries, such as the textile industry.  Additionally, many products aimed primarily at women can increase their risk of exposure to harmful chemicals, such as menstrual products containing oil-based plastics and harmful chemicals.

On 4^th September 2023, the United Nations Environment Programme published a first draft of the Global Plastics Treaty, which includes measures to address chemicals of concern in plastics. Negotiations on the treaty are still underway.

CHEM Trust is working hard to get chemicals regulated so that they cannot be used in plastics, such as the newly proposed EU ban on the use of bisphenols (which are EDCs) in plastic food packaging.

Read more about chemicals and plastics on this webpage.

Read more about women’s reproductive health and chemicals in our interview with Dr Pauliina Damdimopoulou.

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