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Plastic Poisons People. Will the Biden Administration Protect Us?
No one is immune to the impacts of plastic pollution, and we are running out of time.
Apr 29, 2024
To the Biden Administration,
Wrapping up the penultimate round of negotiations for a global plastics treaty, the United States Delegation has so far refused to commit to the essential solution to tackle the plastic pollution crisis: global, legally binding, and timebound commitments to reduce plastic production. While the U.S. has now acknowledged that the “lifecycle” of plastic begins with fossil fuel extraction, it has offered no clear plan to address the accumulation of plastics in human bodies and in our shared environment. It has also failed to confront the acute, sustained, and systemic upstream impacts to communities who are overburdened by extraction and the toxic production of plastic precursors and feedstocks.
Further, despite a broad array of existing U.S. laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act that empower U.S. negotiators to take a truly ambitious stance, the U.S. Delegation continues to downplay the regulatory authorities of relevant agencies in order to push for an ambitious treaty. So far, the U.S. positions resort to the lowest-common-denominator — an approach that bears far more in common with that of high-powered petrostates like Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia than of the larger international community of which the U.S. claims to be a leader.
Every day, frontline communities across the U.S. suffer the impacts of plastic pollution at every stage of the plastic “lifecycle,” and every human in the country and around the world faces mounting exposures to plastic threats. Moral, legal, and scientific obligations demand this problem be tackled at the source. Yet U.S. negotiators continue over-emphasizing failed waste management and recycling schemes, peddling a so-called “circular economy of plastics.” This approach will only accelerate the circulation of thousands of harmful, toxic chemicals in plastics, and continue polluting the environment and our bodies. Only promoting demand-side measures is absurd when it is abundantly clear that the only way to address the plastics crisis is through production reduction.
Meanwhile, scientific reports continue to pile up, bearing evidence that these chemicals leach from microplastics, now found in human blood, lungs, stool, placentas, semen, and breast milk, and most recently and troublingly, in human cancer cells. Nor is the threat from plastics limited to human health, human rights, or biodiversity. A recent report from DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory demonstrates yet again the critical need to reduce plastic production to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius climate change imperative.
It is extremely disappointing to see the U.S. Delegation to these vital talks continue to push a position that undermines this administration’s commitments and goals on climate and environmental justice. The current negotiating position of the U.S. would enable the plastics industry to keep expanding production capacity—often incentivized by federal subsidies and tax breaks. This would deepen environmental injustice for communities living on the frontline, and accelerate the climate crisis, extinguishing any hope of remaining beneath 1.5 degrees Celsius or stopping the proliferation of toxic chemicals in our air, water, and soil.
As the world’s largest consumer and exporter of plastic waste, purporting to recognize the severity of the crisis, the U.S. must act decisively on these imperatives rather than negotiating an ineffective treaty that will sacrifice the public health and human rights of all to the interests of the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. At the very least, it is imperative that the U.S. Delegation to the Global Plastic Treaty:
- Support a legally binding international agreement that begins with globally defined targets, not nationally determined contributions;
- Support significant production caps on plastic monomers and polymers, phase-downs, and phase-outs with binding timelines to prevent plastic pollution from poisoning communities and the planet across the full “lifecycle”;
- Support a group-based, health-protective, precautionary approach to restricting chemicals of concern in plastics, and account for toxics used and formed in the plastic manufacturing process;
- Support just transition measures including for the upstream petrochemical production supply chain in the U.S., in harmony with the mandates of the Stockholm Convention and Paris Accord, and protect the health and human rights of communities of color, Indigenous peoples, waste pickers, and low-income communities most impacted by the plastics “lifecycle”;
- Support safe and environmentally sound waste management, in harmony with the mandate of the Basel Convention. Reject false solutions like plastic circularity, plastic waste-to-fuel or energy, mass balance allocation, plastic credit schemes, and “chemical recycling” in all its forms.
Frontline groups have repeatedly invited the U.S. State Department and relevant federal agency representatives to travel to communities to witness firsthand the devastating impacts of plastic producing petrochemical plants and the environmental injustice they represent. We invite the President and other senior administration officials to visit, as well. Community leaders are subject matter experts in petrochemical and plastics production and expansion effects, and their lived experiences must be centered in these negotiations.
These treaty negotiations represent a monumental opportunity for the world and the administration. Over 80% of Americans understand that plastic pollution is a major crisis and overwhelmingly support measures to reduce plastic production. But at this stage, the Biden Administration and the U.S. Delegation that implements its orders are failing to provide the leadership necessary to confront the greatest public health crises of our time. If the Biden Administration is serious about leading on climate and environmental justice, then it must prioritize public health and human rights over the interests of the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries.
No one is immune to the impacts of plastic pollution, and we are running out of time.
Break Free From Plastic US
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As Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations Begin, the Stakes Could Not Be Higher
To turn the political tide in Ottawa, we need to take a lesson from the first Earth Day when grassroots activism in the form of 20 million people taking to the streets sparked the first generation of environmental laws.
Apr 21, 2024
This year Earth Day, April 22, marks the start of the fourth round of negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty. Without much public fanfare, delegates from 175 countries—together with hundreds of observers representing industry, academia, health organizations, and environmental groups—will gather in Ottawa to chart the course for the future of plastics and plastic pollution.
The stakes could not be higher.
Plastics have been linked to serious health problems, including cancer, lung disease, and birth defects. Recently researchers found that individuals with heart disease that had microplastics—those tiny particles that pervade our environment—in their tissue had twice the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke or death within three years. Babies, because of their increased exposure to plastics and vulnerability, are especially at risk.
The details of the potentially influential U.S. position remain undeclared—ironically when the administration is touting its leadership in addressing climate change and promoting environmental justice.
Humans are not the only ones in danger—more than 1 million marine creatures are estimated to be killed by plastics in garbage each year. Eleven million metric tons of plastic waste are flowing into the ocean each year. The World Health Organization report, Tobacco: Poisoning Our Planet, describes the significant risks presented from the 4.5 trillion discarded cigarette butts. Cigarette filters based on cellulose-acetate don’t degrade and continue harming the environment as microplastics that circulate in our marine and freshwater systems. They also release nicotine, heavy metals, and other chemicals which threaten not only coastal fishing communities but also those who consume seafood products.
Moreover, plastics are irrefutably fueling the climate change crisis.
Over 90% of plastics are produced from fossil fuels, and 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions are generated in connection with the production, conversion, and waste management of plastics. And plastics-related emissions are projected to more than double by 2060. With low income and communities of color disproportionately located near petrochemical plants, as well plastic production and waste incineration facilities, they are especially at risk for the harmful environmental and health impacts.
The scale of the problem is only expected to grow. Experts predict that global production of thermoplastics will increase to 445.25 million metric tons in 2025 and continue to increase by more than 30% by 2050.
And notwithstanding increasing government bans and regulation of single-use plastic, between 2019 and 2021 there was an increase annually of 6 million tonnes (6.6 million U.S. tons) per year in single-use plastic production.
Contrary to decades of industry promotion, recycling is not the answer to the plastics challenge. According to a comprehensive analysis and report by Greenpeace, even though the industry has been pushing recycling since the 1990’s, “the vast majority of U.S. plastic waste is still not recyclable.” The report further observed a decline in the rate of recycling in the U.S. from a high of 9.5% in 2014 to 5-6% in 2021. Even new recycling technologies, such as chemical recycling, can produce toxic emissions and hazardous waste.
The Global Plastics Treaty negotiations offer a chance to chart a sustainable course for our planet. We are at the crossroads of moving forward with a treaty that will call for significant reductions not only in single-use plastics but also reduce the overall amount of plastics produced and demand full transparency in the industry.
So far, the prospects for a strong treaty are uncertain at best. While the member countries of the High Ambition Coalition are pushing for the restriction and elimination of problematic plastics as well as reporting and transparency provisions to ensure accountability through the value chain, the so-called “Like Minded Group” representing many fossil fuel countries are advocating for a focus on waste management rather than production limits. And despite a letter from six U.S. senators and more than a dozen U.S. House members calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to negotiate “the strongest agreement possible” including binding plastic production limits, the details of the potentially influential U.S. position remain undeclared—ironically when the administration is touting its leadership in addressing climate change and promoting environmental justice.
To turn the political tide in Ottawa, we need to take a lesson from the first Earth Day when grassroots activism in the form of 20 million people from all walks of life taking to the streets sparked the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the first generation of environmental laws. With a myriad of media and communication technologies and platforms available today to share your voice (#PlanetvsPlastics, #EndPlastics, #EarthDay, #GlobalPlasticsTreaty), it’s time to demand that our elected leaders forge a treaty that will free us and our planet from the scourge of plastic and plastic pollution.
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Two Confirmed Dead In Shooting Near Canadian Parliament
Police are searching for "multiple shooters"
Oct 22, 2014
Update 2:40 EST:
Two people are confirmed dead from Wednesday's shooting.
The Canadian soldier shot while guarding Canada's War Memorial has reportedly died from his injuries. Furthermore, a "male suspect" is confirmed dead.
Police are reportedly searching cars leaving attempting to travel from Ottawa to Quebec and going door to door in downtown Ottawa, where schools remain on lockdown.
"At an afternoon press conference, [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] would not say whether another gunman was believed at large," CBC reports.
CBC continues:
Ottawa Civic Hospital confirmed three people were taken to hospital. Two are stable, and one has a gunshot wound. The hospital was referring calls on the status of the other victim to the Department of National Defence.
Earlier:
Downtown Ottawa buildings are on lockdown after multiple shots were reportedly fired near Parliament and at soldiers guarding Canada's War memorial on Wednesday morning.
Canadian publication rabble.careports:
A gunman shot and very seriously wounded a Canadian Forces soldier at the War Memorial in Ottawa at about 10:00 a.m. this morning, Wednesday, October 22.
According to witnesses, the gunman then hijacked a car, without harming the driver, and drove onto Parliament Hill.
There are reports that the gunman then entered the main entrance of the Centre Block of Parliament and shot repeatedly and indiscriminately.
Journalists who were on the scene at the time report that some people there were gravely injured, but there are no details as to the extent of casualties yet.
Marc Soucy of the Ottawa Police said there were "numerous gunmen" responsible for what witnesses say were dozens of shots, according toCNN.
This footage from inside the Parliament Hill building was captured by a Globe & Mail reporter on the scene at the time:
Inside Parliament in Ottawa during 2014 shootingOn October 22, 2014 a gunman opened fire at the War Memorial in Ottawa and then had a shootout with police inside Centre ...
A Canadian soldier has reportedly been struck by gunfire, and further information about this or other injuries was not immediately available.
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