Read the full article by Saul Elbein (The Hill)
“Chemicals leaching from plastics are leaving Americans notably sicker and poorer, according to a new study.
In 2018 alone, the hormone-disrupting effects of plastics in the nation’s food and water led to a quarter of a trillion dollars in additional health care costs, according to findings published on Thursday in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
That’s the equivalent of 5 percent of U.S. health care costs and more than 1 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), the New York University researchers found.
To put that number in context, 2018 saw a year-over-year GDP growth of about 3 percent, a third of which chemicals such as PFAS, phthalates and biophenols ate up.” …