Plastics Are Everywhere And They Pose A Danger
Introduction
There are plastics in everyday use. We use them to store water, as cooking spoons and to provide drips to patients with medical conditions. These plastics are everywhere and are becoming a major public health threat to humans. They are commonly used in Africa and Cameroon and we use them in extreme conditions, which make it even dangerous, should they be used more than once.
Plastics are all classified as recyclable materials with numbers depicting the kinds of chemicals used in a triangle with succeeding arrows, the symbol for recyclable material. Of course, there are those who have made a trade out of our abuse of them and have become plastic hunters. Rain serves as the best example of a gatherer of plastics as after downpours; plastics collect into waterways, clog the flow of most urban rivers, and end up in most beach towns as a nuisance. The issue with plastics is that they contain chemicals that have not been tested to determine their appropriateness for human use. We are just beginning to see the effects of these in animals and now in humans too. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to issue bans on baby bottles that contain some of these chemicals especially those that contain a substance called BisphenolA (BPA). In Cameroon and most African countries, we are not even aware of these and it really means nothing to us. In most cases, the mothers who use plastic items such as the cooking spoon are often so happy without realizing what this could mean.
Source Of Chemicals From Plastics
We literally get BPA chemicals from every container that is termed "bottle" without being glass. You may avoid it from the water cooler and you probably get it from food from a can, soda from a can or from plastics used in serving hot pork on the roadside. You see them as toys used by our children and also the drips used to provide perfusions in hospitals. You find them in all plastic containers for household use that provide shields against electricity or in containers used for serving foods in restaurants. Those disposable Styrofoam boxes and the single use cutlery are all plastics. Because they are termed single use, we really should not use them more than once. Since poverty rings everywhere, we rewash and reuse and in the process intoxicate ourselves with these chemicals. These chemicals virtually leach out or leave the plastics into food once in reuse or the acidity of the environment changes. With evidence that is accumulating, the threats are both real and ubiquitous. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that BPA is present in detectable levels in 93 percent of Americans aged six and older.
Effect On Animals
BPA is a synthetic hormone and mimics estrogen the feminizing hormone, and building evidence demonstrates that in animals there are many dangers to health especially from exposure in the uterus before birth resulting in:
- Abnormal development of the brain
- Abnormal development of the breast and prostate
- Infertility and feminizing of male organs in fetuses and early puberty in females
There are some 260 species that have digested plastics greatly endangering these species. The sea turtles are greatly affected with large proportions of plastics in their stomachs.
Effects On Environment
Plastics may release chlorinated products into the surrounding soil, which can then seep into the ground water or other surrounding water sources. The disposal of wastes in Cameroon knows no boundaries. Families need to select their wastes since landfills are laden with plastics sometimes biodegradable and sometimes not biodegradable. Those that are degradable may produce methane gas contributing to global warming. In this wise, the Cordon Emission Index for Cameroon must be very high. The situation is even more dangerous when these plastics are found in our waterways and then leach out the chemical into the ground and subterranean waters. A situation we encounter every day. It suffices that it rains to assess the extent of plastic pollution, which clogs the waterways. The effects are disastrous when we further consider the release of polystyrene into water which already has a taste and colour and altered acidity. Further research must be carried out to ascertain the extent of such damages.
Harmful Effects In Humans
Evidence from the Harvard School of Public Health shows that BPA, the most dangerous of all the plastic chemicals, is associated with behaviour and emotional problems in young girls. (Fraser et al, 2009) People in the developed world and now the developing world are daily exposed to BPA, and drinking from polycarbonate bottles increases the level of urinary BPA. Braun et al, 2011 demonstrated that gestational BPA exposure was associated with more behavioural problems at age three. Exposure to BPA in the womb affects child behaviour and girls appear to be more sensitive to BPA than boys. Human research linked BPA exposure to recurrent miscarriage among Japanese women. The BPA has been shown to affect the genes controlling obesity to the extent that British researchers believe that BPA may be adding to the obesity problem in Africa, since this chemical affects the regulation of one of the obesity genes. BPA has also been associated with heart disease, diabetes and liver disorders. The plastics chemical of family phthalates are endocrine disruptors, chemicals that can enter the body through food and personal care products and interfere with hormones the body itself produces. Phthalates inhibit androgens and affect males more than females.
Plastic medical products such as polyvinyl chloride tubing, which are lifesaving and important, are inserted into infants.
7 Categories Of Plastics
There are seven categories of plastics. The numbers are carried in the centre of a triangle of with succeeding arrows demonstrating that these are recyclable but experience shows that they may become dangerous. So, we need to err on the side of caution. The example below is High Density Polyethylene, a chemical found in plastics used to manufacture detergent, bleach and fabric conditioner bottles, snack food boxes and cereal box liners, milk and non-carbonated drinks bottles, wheeled refuse bins, compost containers, pigmented bottles, toys, buckets, rigid pipes, crates, plant pots.
HDPE
Every plastic is supposed to carry a number as per the coding system of the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), The worst of them are numbers 1, 2 and 7. The least hazardous is number 4.
In Conclusion
In Cameroon with no performing consumer protection groups, we may only turn to the Ministry of the Environment and Nature Protection for assistance. Scientific pressure groups need to mount advocacy drives and take up assembling the evidence. For a start, MINEP can ask that all plastics carry a code so that the informed consumer makes a choice. Secondly, MINEP can set limits of what types of plastics are let into the environment by educating families to sort plastics into different containers before disposal. Thirdly, MINEP may advocate for a total ban on plastics like Rwanda did but may require a huge political will to have that accomplished.
The Precautionary Principle (PP) should allow Cameroon to recognize that the lack of evidence of harm does not say it does not cause harm and this should determine the pace at which Cameroon evolves to ensure that there is a comprehensive regulation of exposure to endocrine disruptors.
