Punjab govt takes the battle to plastic

Substance takes 100 to 1,000 years to break down into earth’s structure

BHAKKAR: To provide a healthy environment for its citizens, the Punjab government is making an effort to create awareness about the hazardous effects of plastic bags in Bhakkar.

Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Bhakkar district President Dr Khalid Javed said polythene bags were terrible for human health. “If we learn about the harmful effects, we will never make the mistake of using them.”

He shared that plastic takes 100 to 1,000 years to break down into the earth’s structure and yet people continue to use it. Experts say that when Leo Hendrik Baekeland invented the first synthetic plastic in 1907, he didn’t realise the impact his invention would have on this earth and its inhabitants.

Dr Javed explains that when consumers carry our food in plastic bags, it has side effects and makes a person nauseous and weakens the muscles. “It can also make a person disabled if disseminated in high quantity in the body.”

Despite ban, plastic bags still in markets

Plastic pollution, he said, has become a global concern as it is not only harming human lives, but also animals. Millions of birds and over 100,000 marine mammals suffer injuries or die every year after becoming entangled in packaging or eating it. According to medical experts, the poisonous substances present in plastic bags become a part of the hot food items carried in plastic bags. The same food can cause various diseases like cancer.

Dr Javed said that apart from directly impacting the human body, these plastic bags also pollute the environment. “When people set them on fire, they produce poisonous gases which excessively pollute the environment and negatively impact human health. They give rise to problems after penetrating into people’s lungs. Blood cancer and breathing problems occur due to these gases.”

Employees working in plastic manufacturing factories also get afflicted with diseases due to the lack of preventive measures. Municipal Committee Bhakkar Administrator/Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Adnan Farid Afridi said that ever nation has its responsibilities and chief among them is to care for the environment. Plastic bags have been banned in Islamabad and the Sindh government has also announced a ban on them from October 1

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2019.