A Pollutant that Refuses to Go Away.

PositionPLASTIC

Plastic is a material made to last practically forever, yet 33% of all plastic--water bottles, bags, and straws--is used just once and thrown away, notes Woldwatch Institute, Washington, DC. Moreover, plastic cannot biodegrade; it merely breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. As such, Worldwatch issues the following warnings:

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 these toxins is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption, and other ailments.

Plastic spoils our groundwater. There are thousands of landfills in the U.S. Buried beneath each one of them, toxic chemicals from plastics drain out and seep into groundwater, flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.

Plastic attracts other pollutants. The chemicals that give plastic its rigidity or flexibility--flame retardants, bisphenols, phthalates, and other harmful chemicals--are oily poisons that repel water and stick to petroleum-based objects like plastic debris. So, the toxic chemicals that leach out of plastics can accumulate on other plastics. This is a serious concern with increasing amounts of plastic debris accumulating in...

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