human-health-considerations-for-inc-5.2-tess-895e9bc16e2de31f.pdf

This informal briefing note from the Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs provides recommendations for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to ensure the protection of human health is integrated into a future international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. It argues that plastic pollution constitutes a public health crisis affecting every stage of the plastic life cycle and proposes three structural options for the treaty: an integrated approach, a standalone article on health, or a combination of both. The document details specific opportunities to embed health protections across various treaty articles, focusing on the elimination of harmful chemicals, sustainable product design, and the establishment of a science-policy interface to allow the treaty to evolve with emerging evidence.

• Plastic pollution is described as a public health crisis with adverse impacts occurring across the entire life cycle of plastics. These impacts include exposure to hazardous chemicals such as lead and cadmium, which can cause neurotoxic, carcinogenic, immune- and endocrine-disrupting effects, with infants and children being particularly vulnerable.
• There is increasing evidence of the accumulation of nano- and micro-plastics within the human body. These particles have been detected in various tissues and samples, including the brain, heart, lung, liver, kidney, colon, placenta, spleen, blood, and breast milk.
• Certain populations face disproportionate health risks from plastic pollution. This includes informal waste workers who experience high exposure with low safety protections, and 'fence line communities' located near extraction, production, conversion, incineration, landfill, or dumping sites.
• The briefing proposes three options for incorporating health protections into the treaty text: (1) an integrated approach by strengthening existing references to human health; (2) a standalone, dedicated article on health protection; or (3) a combination of an integrated approach complemented by a dedicated article.
• The document identifies specific opportunities for health-related obligations within the treaty's articles, such as using Article 3 to establish legally binding obligations to eliminate the most harmful plastic products and chemicals of concern, and using Article 5 to ensure product design considers safety across multiple use cycles and disposal.
• To ensure the treaty remains effective as scientific understanding grows, the briefing emphasizes the need for an effective science-policy interface. Specifically, it suggests that Article 20 should ensure the Conference of the Parties (COP) has access to the best available science and the capacity to establish subsidiary bodies to support implementation.

APA

Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs (n.d.). human-health-considerations-for-inc-5.2-tess-895e9bc16e2de31f.pdf. https://lyrical-cormorant.files.svdcdn.com/production/assets/images/Publications/Human-Health-Considerations-for-INC-5.2-TESS.pdf?dm=1754051686

Chicago

Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs. human-health-considerations-for-inc-5.2-tess-895e9bc16e2de31f.pdf. n.d. https://lyrical-cormorant.files.svdcdn.com/production/assets/images/Publications/Human-Health-Considerations-for-INC-5.2-TESS.pdf?dm=1754051686.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs |title=human-health-considerations-for-inc-5.2-tess-895e9bc16e2de31f.pdf |url=https://lyrical-cormorant.files.svdcdn.com/production/assets/images/Publications/Human-Health-Considerations-for-INC-5.2-TESS.pdf?dm=1754051686 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forumontradeenvironmentthesdgsndhumanhealthconsiderationsforinc52tess895e9bc16e2de31fpdf, author = {{Forum on Trade, Environment, \& the SDGs}}, title = {{human-health-considerations-for-inc-5.2-tess-895e9bc16e2de31f.pdf}}, institution = {Forum on Trade, Environment, \& the SDGs}, url = {https://lyrical-cormorant.files.svdcdn.com/production/assets/images/Publications/Human-Health-Considerations-for-INC-5.2-TESS.pdf?dm=1754051686}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }