Read the full article by Liza Gross (Inside Climate News)
“No place on Earth is safe from plastic pollution. Plastic garbage and tiny shards of these long-lived petroleum-based polymers taint the highest Himalayan mountains, deepest ocean trenches, outermost Antarcticfield stations and hidden recesses of the human body.
To manage the rapidly accelerating plastic crisis, 175 countries adopted a United Nations resolution in 2022 to end plastic pollution through an international legally binding treaty. The resolution created the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop the treaty, and kicked off two years of talks. Member nations failed to reach an agreement by the two-year deadline after five negotiating sessions, but settled on text that will be a starting point for the next round of negotiations.
With those talks set to resume next month in Geneva—and plastic production expected to triple by 2060—leading environmental health and policy experts are urging world leaders in the new issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization to prioritize protecting health and the environment by reducing plastic production and encouraging less harmful alternatives.” …