Ban Plastic or Die ( Literally )
Most people do not fully appreciate the plastic problem. They know we are filling the oceans with it. They know it is killing wildlife. They know the rest of the environment is suffering. They even know there are detrimental health effects. Yet, I think few people genuinely appreciate the injury that is being caused by plastic.
For example, testosterone levels are dropping in men by about one percent per year. That is a stunningly fast drop and it is linked to plastic. It is a very bad thing: https://myparla.com/decreasing-testosterone-levels/ .
Here is a fun quote from the link above: “Seventy-year-old men in 1987–89 had an average testosterone level that was almost 100 points higher than even 55-year-old men in 2002–04. Meaning that the average 22 year old man today, has an average testosterone level roughly equal to that of a 67 year old man in 2000. Therefore, it’s likely that your testosterone levels are half of those of your father and undoubtedly significantly less than your grandfather.”
Sperm counts are dropping by about one percent per year. No sperm means no people. This is also linked to plastic: https://theconversation.com/male-fertility-is-declining-studies-show-that-environmental-toxins-could-be-a-reason-163795
Fertility rates are declining, in most advanced countries they are below the replacement rate. It is asserted that economic trends and choice are the reason. But, low testosterone and sperm are very likely also the reason. Low fertility rates means an old moribund poor society is what we have to look forward too. Your fat 401K is meaningless if there are no workers to provide services. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/1/5/22867184/us-census-population-growth-slowdown-migration-birth-death
Combine the fact that plastic, quickly and obviously, is literally killing us off while also destroying the environment and you have a very good case for broad governmental efforts to ban plastic.
Since we want the plastic out of our bodies the best first efforts to control plastic are to get the plastic out of the food packaging.
That means banning plastic containers that contain drinks, food or anything applied to the human body.
This is an easy thing to accomplish. The FDA could simply ban them with a few years grace period to comply. Alternatively the government could impose a 100% retail and wholesale tax on those containers. Both would work.
Some people might wonder why plastic is everywhere. Some people of more recent vintage might wonder how we could possibly do without plastic.
Plastic is everywhere because it is cost effective and does the job the manufacturer needs. It is light and cheap, therefore easy to make and transport.
Glass, paper and metal can duplicate practically all the functionality of plastic. Everything does not have to be made of plastic.
In other words, all of society is being poisoned to maximise manufacturer profits.
You cannot really blame the manufacturers. It is a competitive marketplace and they have to keep costs as low as possible.
This is why we need broad government bans on plastic. It forces all the manufacturers to operate under the same rules so there are no unfair advantages for the plastic users.
Once the obvious plastic has been removed from the food supply, we can assess the effect of that removal and target the remaining plastics that are an issue.
The chemical manufacturers will fight such measures and they will do so effectively because they are well funded. This is not a bad thing. They are merely doing their responsibility to their shareholders. The result is that it will be difficult and take concerted effort to get measures such as above passed.
The metal, paper and glass manufacturers are allies in the cause to ban plastic since their business will increase. They should be lobbying the health benefits of banning plastic.
Given the obvious scientific evidence that we have for the effect of plastic on human health, it is fair to say that the USA government has already dropped the ball and failed to do its job. We have to hope that current and future governments will not also fail in the same way.
Some national and local governments are making small efforts to ban platics. Some are banning bags. Some are banning single use items. Some folks are even designing ships to suck out the plastic from the ocean. These are well intentioned valuable efforts but they are marginal and suboptimal. The optimal approach is to prevent the problem before it exists with very broad bans on plastic.
We need the government to step up and do its job, and they will eventually. Hopefully it will be before 22 year old men today have the testosterone levels of 100 year old women in 1950 and nobody can conceive and other odd diseases become rampant.
Links:
Here is a good link from the Geneva Environment Network with many links about the injurious effects of plastic. You can easily find more on your own: https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/plastics-and-the-environment/ .
