Plastics and Your Health
California Nurses for Environmental Health & Justice
An evidence-based look at how plastics and their chemicals enter our bodies, what they do to our health, and the science, laws, and resources behind the fight for a healthier future.s.
What Is Plastic?
Plastic is created from fossil fuels and chemicals. It consists of long molecular chains called polymers, made of strongly-bound monomers that don’t break down in nature.
More than 16,000 chemicals called additives are used to make those polymers usable and to transform plastic into the shapes and items we recognize.
Those chemicals can break down or leach out into our soil, our food, and the air we breathe.
Microplastics and Nanoplastics
Plastic does not biodegrade — it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Plastic pieces are formed by the degradation of plastic waste, and they contaminate air, water, and food, and cross biological barriers—accumulating in human tissues and raising concerns about inflammation, cell damage, and long-term health effects.
- Microplastics are visible pieces of plastic.
- Nanoplastics are far smaller — invisible to the naked eye and small enough to interact with human cells.
The Plastic Life Cycle
- Extraction & refining — fossil fuels refined into monomers like ethylene and propylene.
- Manufacturing — monomers converted into resins, then formed into pellets, flakes, or products.
- Distribution & usage — products are packaged and shipped; many are single-use.
- Disposal — landfilled, incinerated (releasing toxic chemicals), or escaping into the environment.
- Persistent environmental impact — plastic breaks down via UV rays into microplastics that contaminate soil and water, enter the food chain, and end up in the human body.
How We’re Exposed to Plastics
We’re exposed to plastics via three routes — each mapped to the graphic at left.
Inhalation — the respiratory barrier
We breathe in airborne microplastics; particles small enough bypass the lungs’ defenses and cross into the pulmonary blood vessels. (Pollution, dust, and synthetic fibers from clothes and furnishings.)
Ingestion — the gut barrier (most common)
Consumed via drinking water, seafood, salt, and food packaging; particles cross the intestinal lining into the lymphatic system and capillaries.
Dermal Contact — the skin barrier
From synthetic clothing, cosmetics, and personal care products; nanoplastics can pass through sweat glands and hair follicles to reach local blood vessels.
Are We Becoming Plastic People?
Health Impacts: Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs)
Once inside the body, nanoplastics are internalized by cells and cross epithelial barriers. They enter systemic circulation and travel to deep tissues, settling in organs like the liver, spleen, and brain.
Added chemicals leach out and mimic, block, or alter natural hormones (estrogen, testosterone, thyroid). Their presence triggers chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, altering major endocrine glands.
Body-Wide Health Impacts
Respiratory, cardiovascular & GI
Inhalation and ingestion trigger systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and cell damage—linked to lung tissue damage and a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Immune system
As particles accumulate in immune organs, they interfere with macrophages, impair defenses against viruses and bacteria, disrupt the gut microbiome, and act as carriers for heavy metals, pesticides, and pathogens.
Reducing Plastic & the Recycling Myth
Most plastic isn’t truly recyclable — it is easily contaminated, chemically complex (16,000+ chemicals), degraded by processing, often higher in toxics once recycled, and economically unattractive.
Only a couple of resins are reliably reprocessed: #1 PET (water/soda bottles, jars) and #2 HDPE (milk jugs, shampoo & detergent bottles). #5 PP (yogurt/takeout tubs) is only conditionally accepted.
Small Swaps, Big Impact
Plastics in Healthcare
U.S. healthcare facilities produce 15,000 tons of waste daily — about 25% plastic.
- Health risks: many devices contain PVC and additives like DEHP that can leach into patients.
- Limited recycling: most waste is incinerated or landfilled, releasing chemicals linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, and infertility.
- Single-use surge: an average of seven bags of plastic per patient.
- Global injustice: waste is often exported to under-resourced nations.
Alternatives for Healthcare
Nurses can help reduce plastic consumption by:
- Advocating for reusables and rationalizing supply stocking
- Prioritizing proper waste segregation (correct use of red biohazard bags)
- Getting involved with audits and promoting sustainability campaigns
- Global advocacy: supporting efforts like the Global Plastics Treaty
Initiatives & resources: Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH), the Plastics Toolkit for Hospitals (HCWH SE Asia), and Sustainable Procurement strategies.
7 Groups of Harmful Chemicals
Ten groups of chemicals used to produce or enhance plastic are flagged as major human-toxicity concerns. Here are seven of the most significant. Overview: IPEN EDC brief; RSC, 2025.
California Legislation
California’s legislation to combat plastic pollution includes the Statewide Microplastics Strategy and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements.
Plastic pollution (2022–2026)
- SB 54 — Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (2022): shifts the burden from consumers to producers.
- SB 1053 — Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund (2026): expands SB 54.
- SB 343 — Truth in Labeling Act (2022): limits the chasing-arrows symbol.
Microplastics & health
- SB 1263 — Statewide Microplastics Strategy (2022).
- DTSC Safer Consumer Products (2025): microplastics proposed as a Candidate Chemical.
Single-use & checkout bans
- Statewide Plastic Bag Ban (2025–2026).
- AB 1276 — “Skip the Stuff” foodware-upon-request (2021).
Resources
Books
- The Problem with Plastic — Judith Enck with Adam Mahoney
- A Poison Like No Other — Matt Simon
- Countdown — Shanna H. Swan, PhD
- Year of No Garbage — Eve O. Schaub
Documentaries & Videos
- The Plastic Detox
- We Are All Plastic People Now
- Plastic Wars — FRONTLINE, PBS
- Plastic People
- 3 Surprising Ways Microplastics Can Enter Your Body — TED-Ed
- A Plastic Ocean
Podcasts
Health & Science Organizations
- Collaborative for Health and Environment
- Geneva Environment Network
- Health Care Without Harm
- Million Marker
- P-SNAP — Physicians & Scientists Network
- Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care
- Stanford Plastics & Health Working Group
- Sustainabil-ID
- UCSF Center for Climate, Health and Equity
- Yale Center on Climate Change and Health
