The 50-Year-Old Microplastics Warning That Has Come Back to Haunt the Industry
In June 1973, during a hearing on the Watergate scandal erupting around President Richard Nixon, Sen. Howard Baker, a Republican from Tennessee, uttered the most famous words of his entire career: "What did the president know and when did he know it?" It turned out that Nixon knew a lot early on, and that led to his resignation from the presidency a little more than a year later. Since then, a…
In 1973, during the Watergate scandal investigation, Sen. Howard Baker posed a question that has become a central inquiry in high-profile scandals: What did the president know and when did he know it? This same question has been applied to public health tragedies such as leaded gasoline, chlorofluorocarbons, asbestos, and tobacco.
A recent article by the Los Angeles Times reveals that during the 1974 New York Academy of Sciences Meeting, the plastics industry learned about the dangers of microplastics to human and animal health from German scientist Gerhard Volkheimer. Volkheimer demonstrated that tiny bits of ingested plastic PVC could pass through animal intestinal linings, circulate in the blood and lymph, and reach the brain, liver, and other internal organs.
Industry attendees wrote memos expressing alarm about these findings. We can use the year 1974 as a reference point when considering other public health crises. For instance, both leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons were invented by chemist Thomas Midgley Jr., who received awards from academic and industry groups for these inventions.
Midgley worked for General Motors, which continued to use leaded gasoline despite workers dying from lead poisoning and other symptoms. It took 50 years for the U.S. Congress to ban lead in gasoline, and the ban does not apply to aviation fuel. Similarly, chlorofluorocarbons, used in refrigeration and air conditioning, took 50 years to phase out due to their harmful impact on the ozone layer.
The article argues that society should expect a similar delay in addressing the health hazards posed by microplastics, which have been known since 1974. The industry is likely to shift the burden of proof to the public instead of demonstrating the safety of their products. Despite this, evidence of harm from microplastics is already available.
The article urges immediate action to prevent further damage to human health, animals, and the environment.
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