Plastic crisis highlighted by Lancet ahead of Global Plastics Treaty

The Lancet report on plastic comes as scientists are warning about the dangers of microplastics found in brain tissue and breast milk.

A global “plastics crisis” is costing governments and taxpayers $1.5 trillion annually as they try to cope with escalating injuries, disability and deaths as the substance pollutes our land, seas and bodies, according to a new report by a leading medical journal.

Plastic production is on course to triple by 2060, less than 10% of it is recycled, and around 8,000 megatons now pollute the planet, according to a review of recent studies published Sunday by The Lancet.

That causes harm at every stage of its lifecycle: from the extraction of fossil fuels and production to its use by humans and eventual disposal into the environment, the British publication said.

“Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health,” it said. “Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age” and are “contributing to climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.”

The harms “fall disproportionately upon low-income and at-risk populations,” it added.