Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic and are found in the blood, tissue
LAHORE: Plastic is harmful for our environment as it has also been found to cause cancer. Yet, we are all surrounded by plastic almost all the time. From our shopping bags to bottled water, everything is made out of plastic.
Plastic cannot biodegrade and breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. Plastic affects human health. Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic and are found in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancer, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments. Plastic also threatens wildlife as it becomes entangled in the plastic items we throw away. In our oceans alone, plastic debris outweighs zooplankton – a type of heterotrophic plankton that range from microscopic organisms to large species, such as jellyfish – by a ratio of 36 to one.
In Pakistan, the ratio of patients diagnosed with cancer is also increasing year by year. Hence, we should take precautions by starting with reducing the use of plastic items from our lives. For instance, we all should use paper bags instead of plastic bag. Little changes go a long way.
Eza Imran
Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2018.
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