Cebu Daily News: Perils of Plastic
Note: UP Mountaineers Environment Committee and Miss Earth Foundation Inc. endorses this article.
06 April 09 /Cebu Daily News/ -- There are some governments that put a premium on a healthy environment for their citizens. I realized this at a grocery store in Germany some years back. My host forewarned me that, unlike in developing countries where they are free and supply is unlimited, plastic bags cost a fortune. The instant effect on me was to buy only the stuff I needed. Less is more.
Plastics are everywhere, not just in landfills but also in our oceans. Only a handful know that there is a vast floating debris of plastics and other materials twice the size of Texas in a place called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or Eastern Garbage Patch. They are trapped in the North Pacific Gyre, as a result of the marine debris accumulated over time due to oceanic currents. It is said to grow ten times every decade.
Charles Moore, a California-based sea captain and ocean researcher, first documented its existence. Moore “estimates that 80 percent of the garbage comes from land-based sources, and 20 percent from ships at sea” (Wikipedia). Plastics can be mistaken as food by fish, birds and marine mammals. Since plastics are not biodegradable, when they are photo degraded into smaller pieces, aquatic organisms ingest them. This is how polymers enter the food chain.
Our ignorance of their harmful effects and the almost nil implementation of the laws make us – a megadiversity country, at that – a convenient dumping ground for hazardous wastes and toxic materials like plastic bags. We should not even consider ourselves lucky for the “generosity” of the private sector and the laxity of our government in inundating us and our children’s children with “free” plastics.
Some states in America and other parts of the world are using their police power functions to regulate behavior, ban the use of plastic bags or impose tax on plastics. Ireland is said to be the first country to introduce a plastic bag tax, known as Plas Tax, in March, 2002. With a consumption of 1.2 billion plastic shopping bags in a year, the tax resulted in a 90-percent drop in consumption and one billion fewer bags yearly (www.reusablebags.com).
Source: The Karin
Following the footsteps of San Francisco, Palo Alto in California banned their use. Effective July 1, 2010, Los Angeles will follow suit. Shoppers will bring their own bag or pay a tax of 25 cents for a paper or biodegradable bag.
Is such a law valid? With out any doubt. Just like smoking which kills, plastics are detrimental to humanity and our ecosystem. That is the reason why Republic Act 9003, a.k.a. the largely unimplemented “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2001,” mandates the gradual phase-out of non-ecologically friendly products, such as plastics.
We have yet to see signs of our government seriously veering towards this direction. While some supermarkets such as Rustan’s and SM should be commended for promoting the use of “green bags,” there is still no widespread and visible move to replace plastic bags with alternative packaging. Unfortunately, Filipino shoppers are addicted to their use, and unknown to a large portion of the population, at a tremendous cost to themselves, their family, and community and of our ecosystem. Only those few imbued with the knowledge of the negative consequences that plastics pose have the will to say “NO” to plastics.
The dangers of plastics up close were relayed to me by a good friend whose doctor ordered her to remove all plastic containers in her house. Her body was producing estrogen and was making her sick, thanks to the chemicals in plastic and other substances that we are unknowingly exposed to.
In this climate-challenged era we are in, and as culled from several sources and www.greenguide.com, it matters that we know the negative effects of plastics, some of which are as follows:
1. Plastic manufacturing is a major source of industrial pollution. Plastics come from non-renewable petroleum and natural gas. “Producing a 16 oz. #1 PET bottle generates more than 100 times the toxic emissions in air and water than making the same size bottle out of glass. Major emissions include sulfur oxides and nitrous oxides, greenhouse gas that contribute to global warming.”
Source: AmTruth Myspace
2. Plastic production process produces chemicals such as styrene, benzene and trichloroethane. From production through use and disposal, plastics can expose us to chemicals that are hazardous to our health, including dioxins, phthalates and bisphenol A.
Phthalates: Most cling-wrapped meats, cheeses and other foods sold in grocery stores are wrapped in PVC. To soften #3 PVC plastic into its flexible form, manufacturers add “plasticizers” during production. Traces of these chemicals, known as adipates and phthalates, can leak out of PVC when it comes in contact with foods, especially hot, fatty foods. Adipates and phthalates have been shown to cause birth defects and damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs and reproductive systems in mice. Phthalates are also suspected of interfering with hormones and the reproductive development of baby boys.
Bisphenol A: Many #7 polycarbonate bottles (including baby bottles), microwave ovenware, eating utensils and plastic coatings for metal cans are made with bisphenol A (BPA). Many studies have found that BPA interferes with hormones, as phthalates do, and a March 1998 study in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) found that BPA simulates the action of estrogen when tested in human breast cancer cells. A growing number of scientists are concluding, from animal tests, that exposure to BPA raises your risks of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and childhood behavioral problems such as hyperactivity.
3. Plastics are not biodegradable. Rather than biodegrading, plastic photo degrades into dust, winding up in soil with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the pesticide DDT. Fish also eats those particles.
Conscious of its serious responsibility to protect the health of their constituents and our life support system, the Cebu City Council is taking a laudable step when it holds a public hearing in May on the bill that Councilor Nestor Archival crafted in regulating the use of plastic bags in Cebu City. Let us do our share and propose measures to strengthen its implementation.
Source: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/opinion/view/20090406-198186/Perils-of-plastic
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