New York — A day after suing ExxonMobil Corp. for allegedly lying to the public about plastic recycling, California Attorney General Rob Bonta told a research conference that concerns about the impact of plastics on human health were also critical for his lawsuit.
Bonta told a plastics health research conference Sept. 24 in New York that he "eagerly awaited" more research on the potential impact of chemicals in plastics on people.
"Microplastics have been found in our lungs, maternal and placental tissue, breast milk and blood," Bonta said. "While researchers, including many of you, are still learning about the impact microplastics have on our health, I think it's safe to say we don't want them in our bodies.
"This is actually a very important part of the lawsuit we filed yesterday, so we eagerly await your studies [and] your conclusions," Bonta said, in a short address at the Plastics and Human Health Symposium at New York University's Langone Health Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards.
While it's not a focus of his lawsuit, Bonta's legal action argues that microplastics "likely have negative human health consequences."
The lawsuit, for example, pointed to a study showing that heart disease patients found with microplastics in their carotid artery plaque had a higher risk of strokes and other heart problems than patients without detectable levels of microplastics in their arteries.
As well, the lawsuit pointed to studies it said showed the potential for neurotoxicity, pulmonary toxicity, hepatoxicity, cardiotoxicity and reproductive toxicity from microplastics exposure.
Bonta told the researchers that plastic pollution costs his state about $1 billion a year in cleanup costs.
The plastics health symposium he spoke at ran Sept. 23-24, and coincided with a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly where diplomats were also meeting to talk about the plastics treaty.
Negotiators are trying to hammer out differences ahead of the fifth and final planned negotiating session for the agreement in late November in South Korea.
How the treaty could address chemicals of concern in plastics is still an area that's unresolved.
"This topic, the tie between our health and plastics, is so critical because as we know plastics are literally everywhere around us," Bonta said. "They are ubiquitous, and unfortunately, it's in the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe."