Tackling microplastic pollution critical for protecting public health: PM’s aide

ISLAMABAD: Coordinator to Prime Minister on Climate Change, Romina Khurshid Alam said that although Pakistan ranks at the lowest among countries facing mounting risk of human uptake of microplastics through various food and non-food sources, the present government remains committed to taking measures for tackling the menace to protect public health and the environment.

In a statement, the PM’s aide said that managing plastics throughout their product life-cycle and reducing the use of plastics to move towards a more sustainable plastics economy is challenging but critical to mitigate the accumulation of microplastics in the environment and their uptake by humans through various organisms like fish, mussels and oysters.

In Pakistan, each person inhales 31 in 1,000 plastic particles per day whereas the per capita dietary intake of microplastics in the country is around 31 milligram per day, according to a recent study on Microplastic Human Dietary Uptake published in the reputed Environmental Science & Technology research journal.

The uptake of microplastics refers to the process by which organisms, particularly aquatic organisms, ingest or absorb tiny plastic particles from their environment. The microplastics are small plastic fragments less than 5 millimeters in size, either manufactured at that size (primary microplastics) or resulting from the breakdown of larger plastic items (secondary microplastics).

Found in industrial waste and beauty products or may form during the degradation of larger pieces of plastic waste, the presence of microplastics in various ecosystems has now raised concerns among the environmentalists and health specialists globally about their long-term detrimental consequences on biodiversity, ecosystem function and human health.

The PM’s aide said various studies have concluded that leaching from our plastic water bottles, knives and dermatologic products to enter our bodies, human uptake of the microplastics leads to serious health issues such as endocrine disruption, weight gain, insulin resistance, decreased reproductive health and cancer.

She also highlighted that microplastics are a growing environmental and public health concern globally as they are detected extensively in freshwater and marine environments, ingested, absorbed or consumed as food by organisms and then enter the human body. Industrial development drives this environmental burden caused by microplastic formation and human uptake by elevating plastic pollution levels and shaping the domestic dietary structure, she added.

Referring to the findings of the study mentioned above, the PM’s climate aide said that it was worrying to note that airborne and dietary microplastic human uptake has increased over  six-fold globally, causing adverse risks to the human health and environmental sustainability.

The first-ever global study, carried out by scientists from Cornell University, based in Ithaca, New York, examined data from around the world to determine which countries had the highest exposure to microplastics through different methods of ingestion.

They mapped the microplastic human uptake across 109 global countries including Pakistan on five continents from 1990 to 2018, which revealed that 57% of plastic particles in foods are mainly from aquatic sources.

According to details of the study findings, Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines top the global per capita list of dietary uptakes of microplastics, while China, Mongolia and the United Kingdom top the list of countries that breathe the most microplastics.

PM’s climate aide suggested that removing aquatic plastic debris by water management for surface water quality control in freshwater watersheds, wetlands, and lakes, as well as ocean cleanups or effective solid waste management could significantly mitigate human microplastic exposure by 55%. She said these measures can help protect water quality and safeguard public health.

The PM’s said that various studies have concluded that the microplastic uptake globally originates from high seafood consumption. She said replacing single-use polyolefin plastic material with highly-degradable alternatives, for example edible bio-based materials, could help contain the release of microplastics from packaging materials.