The new Plastic Health Council is a collaboration between the Plastic Soup Foundation and A Plastic Planet, which aims to raise awareness of the negative effects that plastic has on human health. The launch was held Thursday, June 1st in a cafe in Paris- just minutes away from the UNESCO building where the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations were happening.
Ashton & I were invited by the founders to give a short talk on what we think about the threat of plastic on our bodies, and the possible health problems that people from our generation may develop as a result of plastic pollution.
The launch also featured talks from Siân Sutherland (co-founder of A Plastic Planet), Maria Westerbos (founder of Plastic Soup Foundation) and plastic scientist Dr. Jane Muncke. All three are calling for governments raise the bar on what is considered acceptable for human health and to crack down on plastic production.
Siân and Maria speaking
We had met Siân Sutherland and Maria Westerbos the day before at the Microplastics side event at the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations. We could not actually go to the talk because the room was full. However, before we left Siân invited us to the Plastic Health Council launch the next day to bring the voice of youth to their event!
Me and Ashton with Siân and Maria outside of the cafe
We learned a lot about plastic’s bad effects on our health at the launch. The threats that plastics, and the added chemicals, can have on our bodies are extremely terrifying. We hope that this council will raise awareness of and inspire others to take action against the harm that plastic can do to our bodies!