They\u2019re linked to miscarriages<\/a>, birth defects, heart disease<\/a> and cancer<\/a>. Plastics are harming people at every stage of the plastics lifecycle \u2013 from initial oil extraction to the production and use of plastic products, and their eventual disposal via landfill, incinerator or just being left in the environment. <\/p>\n Yet the possibility of a strong, health-centred treaty hangs in the balance. Campaigners, scientists and healthcare groups are pushing for strong measures to cap production and ban hazardous chemicals. But petrochemical producers and industry lobbyists are pushing back \u2013 arguing, against mounting evidence, that plastics are essential to saving lives.<\/p>\n The UN meeting in Geneva is the culmination of several years of negotiating. In theory, delegates will agree on a global treaty by August 15. <\/p>\n Anti-plastics protesters in Geneva for the UN meeting, August 4 2025. The current draft text<\/a>, which will be the basis for these negotiations, contains provisional elements which could make a real difference. These include cutting plastic production (Article 6), banning plastic products and chemicals that are hazardous to humans or the environment (Article 3), and a section dedicated to protecting human health (Article 19)<\/a>.<\/p>\n But some negotiators oppose these elements, and there is a risk they will be watered down or scrapped entirely in the final treaty.<\/p>\n The so-called Like-Minded Group<\/a> of countries \u2013 many of whose members are petrochemical producers including Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, and Russia \u2013 has led the opposition to a health-centred treaty. They have done so by arguing that plastics are in fact essential for protecting health, due to the role of single-use plastic in modern medicine.<\/p>\n For example, Kuwait\u2019s submission<\/a> to the previous negotiating round in Busan, South Korea, last year called concerns about plastic \u201cnot inclusive\u201d, and cited medical devices as proof that plastic saves lives. Saudi Arabia has opposed<\/a> the inclusion of a dedicated article on health, arguing that this would divert the treaty away from its core purpose of managing plastic waste.<\/p>\n Since almost all plastic is made from oil or gas, these petrostates have a clear incentive to maintain the status quo of plastic production and dependency. No wonder they want to focus on managing waste, rather than making less in the first place.<\/p>\n Less than 10% of the world\u2019s plastic is recycled. Plastics industry lobbyists have also been accused of \u201cinfiltrating\u201d<\/a> the negotiations and wielding outsized influence. They too have pushed the narrative that plastics are essential for human health \u2013 for example, with posters<\/a> displayed in Busan which claimed \u201cplastics save lives\u201d.<\/p>\n These lobby groups are pushing for healthcare plastics to be exempted from the treaty entirely, which would provide a significant loophole for plastic producers.<\/p>\n As evidence grows of the ways plastics are harming humans, claims they are necessary to safeguard our health are looking increasingly far-fetched. Of course, plastics are everywhere in modern healthcare. But in most cases, and especially with single-use plastics, they can and should be replaced with a less harmful alternative.<\/p>\n Civil society groups, scientists and healthcare professionals are building momentum for a strong health-centred treaty. The international nongovernmental organization Health Care Without Harm<\/a> has coordinated an open letter<\/a> rejecting exemptions for the health sector. Signed by 65 organisations representing 48 million health workers across 88 countries, it calls for a treaty that tackles the full plastics lifecycle \u2013 and says cutting unnecessary plastic in healthcare is both possible and necessary to protect patients.<\/p>\n The Scientists\u2019 Coalition<\/a>, made up of independent experts, has been instrumental in bringing evidence of plastics\u2019 health effects into the debate, while groups like the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives<\/a> have been pushing for the treaty to recognise that plastics, and especially their disposal, affect marginalised populations hardest. They argue that justice for the most affected people and places should be at the heart of the treaty.<\/p>\n The global plastics treaty is an unprecedented opportunity to take decisive, coordinated action to tackle one of the planet\u2019s biggest threats. At stake in Geneva is whether health will stay at the heart of this treaty \u2013 or be sacrificed under pressure from industry and petrostates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plastics are everywhere \u2013 they\u2019re even in you right now \u2013 and are making many of us sick.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-321900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114980598166228413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"protesters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/file-20250805-62-6o3for.jpg\")
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\n Sipa USA \/ Alamy<\/p>\n![\"Huge](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/file-20250805-62-ecbnwr.jpg\")
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\n Clare Louise Jackson \/ shutterstock<\/p>\n