Thousands of potentially hazardous chemicals used in plastic production identified by ESD members
In a recently published article, ESD members Helene Wiesinger, Zhanyun Wang and Stefanie Hellweg identified and categorized more than 10'000 relevant substances used in plastic production and potentially released throughout the life cycle of plastic. Among these substances, over 2'400 were categorized as of potential concern, partially hardly studied.
ESD members Helene Wiesinger, Zhanyun Wang and Stefanie Hellweg unveiled which substances might be intentionally added to plastics. They found a large number (> 10’000) of chemical substances which are potentially used in plastic production and which may end up in the environment and in our body during the plastic life cycle.
The research was based on a review of 63 industrial, scientific, and regulatory data sources and allowed for a classification of chemicals according to their type, use patterns and hazard classification. More than 2’400 of the identified substances are substances of potential concern due to their concerning properties (persistence in the environment, bioaccumulation, toxicity). However, part of these substances are barely studied and not adequately regulated. Multiple critical knowledge and data gaps remain, in particular regarding use details, concentrations and hazard data.
The scientific publication appeared in Environmental Science & Technology and can be found external pageherecall_made.
ETH featured the publication as a news story and also external pageseveral other news outletscall_made have covered the publication.
ESD member Helene Wiesinger has given a short external pageinterviewcall_made on the study (starting from minute 48:50) in the Newsday programme of the BBC World Service.