Microplastics to get extra focus in global treaty talks

Some of the countries that were the biggest backers of a global plastics treaty are pushing for microplastics to be a specific focus of negotiations.

"The science is clear and stronger global commitment on microplastic is needed," said Jannicke Graatrud, a Norwegian diplomat, addressing an April 6 United Nations forum. "For Norway, we believe the new global agreement on plastics pollution must include measures targeting microplastics."

She said her country and other Nordic nations are currently preparing a report on how microplastics should be considered in the new global agreement. Norway was one of the first nations to support a treaty, and she hoped their new report will elevate microplastics in the talks.

The diplomat spoke during a webinar sponsored by the United Nations, where officials from other countries also said the talks should consider microplastics.

About 175 nations decided at a U.N. Environment Assembly meeting in early March to move ahead with the plastics treaty talks. Nations will start hammering out details later this year.

The microplastics push comes amid increasing research and media attention, although scientists at the U.N. discussion said the potential human health and environmental impacts remain unclear.

Several panelists referred to a recent widely reported study that found microplastics in the blood in 80 percent of people tested. Researchers said they tested 22 people and found PET particles in 50 percent of people tested and polystyrene in a little more than one in three.

Vera Slaveykova, president of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Switzerland's University of Geneva, told the webinar that study does not prove harm but does have worrisome implications.

"This does not mean that it could have some effect but it's a clear suggestion that the microplastic can pass the biological barriers and can travel around the body," she said.

Another recent study said it found, for the first time, microplastics deep in lungs of people.

Slaveykova said it's a complex issue — she said several times that the "dose makes the poison" when evaluating chemical risk.

"We do not yet have an answer [if] microplastics can have an effect on human health," she said. But she added that the "exponential" rise in plastic production, the increasing presence of plastics in the environment, and research showing that microplastics can transport toxins, are concerning.

"With all this, there is a rising concern about the environmental implications of plastic waste in general and micro and nanoplastics in particular," she said.

She highlighted a few areas: new research suggests about 2,400 of the 10,000 or so chemicals used in plastics could be of concern.

And she said that not as much is known about the smallest microplastics, those less than 300 microns in size, which she said can potentially be more active transporters of toxins.

"We worry about the chemical effects of microplastics because we know now that they can act as a platform for chemical cocktails," she said, and carry contaminants and toxic metals.

"That's very important because the material with the lowest size is considered to be more reactive than material with the biggest size," she said.

Slaveykova said microplastics can come from a wide range of sources outside of plastic products — more than 35 percent are estimated to leach off synthetic fibers in laundry, and others are intentionally added to products like toothpaste.

Graatrud, the Norwegian diplomat, said that complicates how they should be regulated.

"We need global measures to address it," she said. "The persistence, the source and the composition, challenge how we regulate the microplastics."

It's an emerging topic for state and provincial governments as well. California officials in February adopted the first state-level microplastics strategy in the U.S.

Speakers at the event pointed to another recent global regulatory action aimed at microplastics and additives in the environment.

The U.N.'s Stockholm Convention decided in January that a plastics stabilizer, UV-328, should be listed as a persistent organic pollutant that can be transported globally by ocean debris or wildlife, and should be subject to further regulation.

U.N. officials said the plastics treaty talks would likely start in May or June with a preliminary meeting on the negotiation process, followed by the first official negotiation session later in 2022.