In 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign climaxed with the famous “Crying Indian” commercial. It featured a Sicilian American actor playing a stereotypical Native American in traditional garb canoeing through a littered Industrial landscape, and shedding a tear, as a driver tossed garbage out a car window. A stern voice over proclaims: “People start pollution. People can stop it.”
In 1997, racer and oceanographer Charles Moore discovered what came to be known as “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, ” a cloudy soup of plastic debris, that was found to extend for 620,000 square miles, an area so vast that the Ocean Cleanup Project, founded in the Netherlands in 2013, was able to remove only 0.5% of it (1,000,000 pounds) in 10 years.
Then in 2016, these microplastics, smaller than the size of a pencil eraser, and nanoplastics — which are up to 100 times thinner than a human hair — tiny enough to pass through a cell membrane and into the brain — were discovered in the organs of zebrafish and mice. In 2018, scientists discovered microplastic in human poop; microplastics were found the next year in the human colon. By 2022, researchers had discovered plastic in every organ in the human body, including the placenta. We breathe in, ingest, absorb, and otherwise take in the equivalent of a credit card’s worth of plastic every week.
Scientists had thought that plastic was inert. In other words, this array of carbon and hydrogen atoms derived from crude oil was thought not to interact with biological systems at all. The side chains added to create specific plastics and plasticizers create products with unique qualities (flexibility, strength, fireproofing). But scientist discovered that they often create unique problems, as the products degrade into microplastics, and nanoplastics.
Phthalates, for example, are used as plasticizers to make flexible PVC pipes, medical tubing, nail polish, hair sprays, shampoos, adhesives, toothbrushes, pharmaceutical coating, and food packaging — from which they can leach into the foods. In experiments with mice, and in epidemiological evidence with humans, phthalates have been linked to insulin resistance, obesity, neurodevelopmental problems like ADHD, asthma, endometriosis, and breast cancer and premature births, leading to increased infant mortality.
A recent sophisticated study from NYU School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics found that one specific phthalate — Di-2-ethylhexyphthalate (DEHP) alone is responsible for nearly two million preterm births worldwide, about 8% of the world’s total, and 74,000 neonatal deaths. DEHP is found in products like shower curtains, vinyl flooring, car interiors and roofs, and food packaging, and fast food. It had been commonly used in medical products and cosmetics but has been largely replaced by substitutes like diisononyl phthalate (DiNP). The problem is that the same study found that DiNP was also linked to almost as many preterm births, and neonatal deaths.
Phthalates and other microplastics may in part be responsible for the decrease in men’s sperm counts by 50% and the increase in infertility rates by 20-30% over the last 50 years.
Children are especially vulnerable to microplastics placing them at increased risk of endocrine disruption, which may lead to precocious puberty, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and thyroid dysfunction.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are fluorinated plastics that are used for their water, heat, and stain resistance. Thery are found in Teflon (its original use), waterproof fabric, carpets, yoga pants, wall paint, furniture, food packaging, cosmetics, and mobile phone screens. PFAS have gotten the notorious name of “forever chemicals” for their persistence in the human body. They too may disrupt the endocrine system, as well as contributing to obesity, cancer, ulcerative colitis, and disorders of fetal and child development. Microplastic PVC and PFAS were found to cause autistic like behaviors in laboratory mice.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to make polycarbonate plastics, found in reusable water bottles, water storage containers, cash register receipts, dental sealants, medical devices, and in the resins found in metal food and beverage cans and water pipes. Because it too has been linked to decreased sperm counts and fertility, diabetes, ADHD, anxiety, breast and prostate cancer, and heart disease, some bottle and can manufacturers have replaced BPA in water bottles and cans with new bisphenols, like BPFS, BPF, and BPAF. But these too may interfere with estrogen and testosterone levels and contribute to developmental issues and metabolic disturbance.
Then there is Styrofoam. This material is made of polystyrene, shot through with lots of air. It used for lightweight insulation boards, road sub pavement, crafts, packing materials and of course, coffee cups. Unfortunately, when polystyrene is heated, it can leach styrene which is the International Agency for Research classifies as “probably carcinogenic,” Styrofoam cannot be recycled, is a major pollutant, kills wildlife, and breaks into microplastics, which lead to inflammation if ingested.
These are just a few of the many plastics we use every day.
It is difficult to fathom — even for those of us who have lived through it:
That the first plastic bottles of water were produced only 50 years ago — several years after that first Earth Day — and humans now consume 1.3 billion of them every day. And a 2024 study found that each liter bottle contains 240,000 detectable plastic particles.
That 50 years ago, few of us had microwave ovens, and now, millions of people consume up to a third of their meals in microwaved plastic every day.
That 50 years ago, people were just beginning to use single use polyethylene bags, which clog the oceans, kill wildlife, and degrade into harmful microplastics. All through the aggressive marketing by the oil producers who make plastic, and the companies that make use of it. And space does not permit me to go into the significant illness and injury suffered by those in “Cancer Alley” and other areas of the country, mostly inhabited by poor people of color who work in and live around factories making plastics.
We need much more research into plastic alternatives, much stricter laws governing the production of plastic from crude oil, much better testing for toxicity, and regulation of poisonous plastic products.
As consumers and parents, we need to realize that we and our children can and should live without single use plastic water bottles, single use plastic bags, microwave dinner, plastic food containers, and Styrofoam cups and packing material. We can cut down on the use of plastic toys and synthetic fibers in clothes.
Plastic products like artificial heart valves are important; they have saved many lives. But do we need throw-away plastic water bottles? Do we need single use plastic bags? Plastic cups?
In 55 years, we’ve gone from “Keep America Beautiful” to “Protect Humans from illness, sterility and death.” Plastic litter lives within us.
Dr. David Gottsegen of Belchertown is a pediatrician who focuses on the interrelationship between mind body and spirit. His book “Mending the Body with the Mind: Harnessing Kids’ Superpowers to Heal and Stay Healthy” was published on Nov. 25.