Microplastic

International fashion brands are doubling down on their use of synthetic fibres – a key driver of microplastic pollution – while employing distraction and delay tactics to protect their fast fashion business model. This report uncovers the industry’s lacklustre support for meaningful legislation and underscores the urgent need for strong action from regulators.

The report presents numbers and figures of the 2024 Great Global Nurdle Hunt. Nurdles are plastic pellets produced from fossil fuels, recycled or biobased material. Each year, due to mismanagement across the entire supply chain and a lack of regulation, over 445,000 t of nurdles spill into the environment around the world, making them a major source of primary microplastic pollution.

This study provides conclusive evidence for the presence of microplastics in the human stomach and provides important preliminary data in terms of the risks that may arise for human health.

This ground-breaking feature documentary investigates our addiction to plastic and the growing threat of microplastics on human health. What are the impacts and what can be done about it?

Plastic Waste Poisons Indonesia's Food Chain reports on the high levels of dioxins being dumped into the environment and food networks as a result of plastic incineration — plastics which are being imported along with waste papers into Indonesia and other countries. Measured levels of dioxin in eggs rivals some of the worst polluted areas in human history.

This synthesis of data on toxic chemical ocean pollution, including hazardous pesticides, pharmaceuticals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) like PCBs, plastics, microplastics, and heavy metals, exposes their sweeping impacts on marine and human life.

This joint report of the Endocrine Society and IPEN provides the current best knowledge about the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on human health. It discusses chemicals known to be hazardous to human health yet actively used in plastics, exposures, the problem of microplastics, and the issues surrounding alternative plastics.

This medical study analyses extant US data to study associations of 20 phthalate metabolites with gestational age at birth, birthweight, birth length, and birthweight for gestational age z-scores. It also estimates attributable adverse birth outcomes and associated costs. 

Global Plastic Laws is an extensive database and resource library focused on plastic legislation that has been passed around the world.

Unlike other pollutants that are single elements or simple chemical compounds, microplastics represent a cocktail of toxicity: plastics contain at least 10,000 different chemicals. Those chemicals are linked to diseases from diabetes to hormone disruption to cancers.