In a world filled with plastics, study says plastics can be deadly. Now what?

USA Today

12-05-2025

In a world filled with plastics, study says plastics can be deadly. Now what? Evidence is accumulating that microplastics found nearly everywhere are also invading our bodies. What should you do?
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Trump signs paper straw order: 'I don't think that plastic's gonna affect a shark'
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday targeting paper straws, as "nobody really likes them."
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The world has a plastic problem and it seems to be getting worse.
A study released in late April found that chemicals in plastics were potentially associated with as many as 350,000 heart disease deaths globally in 2018.
Evidence is also accumulating that the microplastic bits now found everywhere in our environment – from Antarctica to the Amazon – are invading our bodies and have been implicated in everything from heart disease to infertility. In addition, the chemicals used in plastic can leach out into food, potentially increasing risks for obesity, heart disease and other ailments.
The plastic industry rejects some of this research, saying it's not conclusive.
Plastic provides "unmatched safety, protection, and efficiency across countless applications while offering the potential for reuse and recycling," Matt Seaholm, CEO and president of the Plastics Industry Association, said in a statement to USA TODAY.
"Our industry prioritizes human health, which is why we are committed to ensuring that plastic is the most suitable and responsible choice for every application in which it is used," he said.
The nation's new Health and Human Services Secretary has historically been skeptical of the safety of plastics, writing in 2023, "Some of the toxic chemicals used in everyday items such as plastic packaging can cause cancer and birth defects."
Speaking at a Chemicals of Concern Policy Summit in North Carolina in April, Robert Kennedy Jr. said the agency would be investigating the potential human health effects of microplastics and the chemicals used in plastics.
But it's not clear what action if any the notoriously anti-regulation Trump administration will take to limit plastic production or the chemicals used.
So far, the only time President Donald Trump has spoken about plastic came in February, when he issued a 36-page national strategy reversing the promotion of paper straws instead of plastic.
So, should you reduce your plastic exposure?
Determining the true health impact of plastics, if any, has proven a daunting task. That's because they're everywhere and because, while the amount of exposure is likely to be important, it's not yet clear how much is too much.
Brett Sealove, chief of cardiology at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, NJ, said he thinks it's too early to warn his patients about the possible health effects of plastics. But he thinks more useful information will come within a few years.
"Be on the lookout for new and better data to come," he said. "Right now there's no cause and effect, there are only associations, so you have to take them with a grain of salt," he said.
In the meantime, he says the first and most important thing people can do to lower their risk of a whole host of illnesses is to eat more vegetables, less processed food and exercise regularly.
"As a cardiologist, I would much rather you walk 30 minutes a day than focus on microplastics," Sealov said. "Yes, maybe don't microwave in plastic," he said. But get up and walk first and "we would be an endlessly healthier society."
What can you do to minimize your plastic exposure?
The only way to lower the overall amount of plastic in the environment is to limit plastic production, change manufacturing methods as well as buying habits, recycling and trash disposal systems, said Dianna Cohen, co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
But until then what can you do to minimize the amount of plastic you take into your body? Here are some tips backed by research:
How did we get here?
Plastic is relatively new in the world. The first fully synthetic plastic was invented in 1907. By the 1930s, waste products from the petroleum and chemical industries were being used to make plastics. Production grew in the 1950s and 60s and exploded in the 1970s, when plastic became a ubiquitous part of modern life.
Today, about 400 million tons of plastic waste are produced each year, according to the United Nations. Plastic use in the United States has more than tripled since the 1980s and less than 10% is recycled.
Initially, plastics were believed to be inert, much like glass. They were thought of as chemically unreactive and generally harmless. Increasingly, studies are finding that some chemicals used to make different kinds of plastic rigid or flexible can affect biological processes within the body, often by disrupting hormones.
Is plastic hazardous to our health?
Plastic breaks down into ever smaller bits but it doesn't decompose. These microplastic particles are increasingly being found in people's bodies, entering when they eat, drink, or breathe them in.
These tiny, almost invisible plastic particles have been found in arteries, hearts, lungs, blood, placentas, breast milk, penises and testicles, among other body parts. A recent study found the average person's brain may contain the equivalent of one plastic throw-away spoon.
As studies begin to find connections between exposure to plastic and medical problems, doctors and scientists are increasingly concerned.
"We're conducing a vast, uncontrolled medical experiment in which we, our (children) and our grandchildren are the unwitting, unconsenting subjects," said Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and director of the program for global public health and the common good at Boston College.
A study released in 2024 found the rate of heart attacks, stroke and death was 4.5-times higher in people who had microplastics in the plaque clogging their neck arteries, compared to those who didn't.
The actual cause of that increase isn't known and the researchers cautioned their findings can't be generalized to a wider population because other factors, such as socio-economic status, might be playing a role.
"The jury is still out on exactly how much gets into the human body but there's no question we're all getting exposed everyday," said Landrigan. "Now the evidence is beginning to come in that microplastics can cause disease."
Decreasing plastic in the environment
The only way to truly lower plastic exposure is to produce less and make the plastic we use easily and cheaply recyclable.
"If a bathtub is overflowing, you don't just start mopping – you turn off the tap," said Cohen. "Then you mop the floor."
The United Nations is currently negotiating a global plastic treaty that would reduce overall plastic production, improve the design of new products to make them easier to recycle and aid communities that have been disproportionally impacted by plastic pollution.
More than 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels, Cohen noted. Despite pressure from a handful of petro-states including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait, "the majority of countries are rallying together for a strong treaty," she said.
HHS Secretary Kennedy strongly supported work on this treaty in a 2023 opinion piece, when he was running for president as a Democrat.
"In my administration, the U.S. will lead the way in forging an effective treaty, instead of watering it down at the behest of lobbyists for the oil and petrochemical industries," he wrote.
The next round of negotiations will take place in Switzerland in August.