Editorial. Plastic pollution, major danger, minor response

Without meaning to, we eat plastic, we drink plastic, and we breathe plastic, in large quantities. While the UN-sponsored treaty on plastic pollution in Geneva appears set to end this Thursday in failure, warnings are mounting about the harmful effects of this pollution.

Plastic is so prevalent in our environment that it practically has its own cycle. Every minute, the equivalent of an entire truckload of plastic waste is dumped into the oceans. This waste is carried away by currents, some is swallowed by marine animals, and then it breaks down into smaller and smaller particles. It eventually ends up in rivers, soil, crops, and all living organisms.

A recent study published on July 30 by researchers from the University of Toulouse in an American journal estimates that exposure to microplastic particles in the air is 100 times greater than previously thought. An adult could inhale nearly 70,000 particles smaller than 10 micrometers per day, resulting from the degradation of familiar plastic objects around us, such as car dashboards or the polyester fabrics that make up our curtains and cushions.

Exposure to microplastic particles in the air may be 100 times greater than previously thought

On the eve of the opening of the Geneva negotiations on August 4, a group of scientists sounded the alarm about the "serious, growing, and underestimated danger to human and planetary health." Their report, published in The Lancet, compiles the latest data on all the health effects of plastic pollution. Thousands of chemicals with which we come into contact are considered "highly hazardous."

The latest scandal, the massive contamination of Contrex and Hépar waters by "immeasurable" levels of microplastics from illegal dumps, has revealed the worrying pollution practices of industrialists. The urgency of limiting the proliferation of plastic is no longer in doubt, as global production could double by 2050. But in the name of their economic interests, oil-rich countries, led by Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iran, reject any constraints or bans on molecules. Considering that the legally binding Paris Climate Agreement failed to achieve the temperature targets set at the time, it is difficult to be optimistic today about the possibility of an imminent solution to the plastic crisis.