Toxic Components of Plastic Pose Carcinogenic Threat to Public Health

Abstract

The toxicity of plastics and its components is increasing day by day for human needs. In modern days, plastics are widely used in every product in our daily life. In 2021, it was predicted that the world would produce 390.7 million metric tons of plastic. A year's worth of plastic waste is produced in India at 3.4 million tons. Many products are manufactured with plastic due to its impressive characteristics such as inert, flexibility, durability, versatility, lightweight, and less costly. They encourage dangers to the planet and human health. Numerous chemical and toxic contaminants, including Bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, antimonitroxide, brominated flame retardants, poly-fluorinated chemicals, nonylphenol, polychlorinated biphenylethers, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene, phenanthrene, among others, are found in plastics and pose a major risk to human health and the environment. These chemical and hazardous compounds are used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, containers, pharmaceuticals, food packaging, baby toys, etc. The impact of plastics on the environment gets more dangerous day by day. Not only the environment but also exposure to plastics leads to various human health risks. Toxic components of plastics lead to several serious cancers even;they are also possessing their genotoxic effects on human health. This review contains the toxicity of plastic components on human health and the environment by low-level exposure and gives a proper awareness about the health problems and focuses on degrading ways to reduce its effects.