Plastics and health

Plastics have emerged as an indispensable part of health care: They are lightweight, durable, and can be made sterile. But they can also cause significant harm to human health, the economy, and the earth's environment. This is embedded in their entire lifecycle, from the hazards posed by the extraction and refining of petrochemicals to the materials and chemicals used to make plastics, and disposal, where plastics can emit chemicals of concern if burned or disposed improperly or break down into microplastics.

In the health care sector, rapid growth in plastic use is primarily driven by the demand for single-use medical devices. They are present in products ranging from syringes, surgery gowns, and gloves to the packaging used to wrap food. Hazardous chemicals in plastics not only threaten the environment but can also threaten patient safety. For example, PVC, a plastic polymer, requires many additives to give it properties like flexibility. Plasticizers used in medical devices can be as much as 40% by weight of a PVC product, and it was demonstrated that they can leach from medical devices and result in direct patient exposure.

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Since the 1990s, Health Care Without Harm has worked with the health care sector to address the use of toxic plastics, such as PVC, monomers like bisphenol A, and hazardous chemicals like phthalates which are endocrine disruptors and should be eliminated in health care plastics wherever possible.

Alongside our global network, we have produced resources, including guidance documents, white papers, fact sheets, and specifications to assist the health sector in identifying problematic plastics and moving toward safer alternatives. 

We also partner with a network of hospitals, assisting them in improving their practices and mobilizing health care professionals as advocates for sustainable, non-toxic, and climate-smart approaches.

Frequently asked questions: Plastic and health

Some of our initiatives