Pros And Cons Of Biodegradable Plastic

The huge amounts of plastic thrown away every year are enough to circle the world four times. According to Oxford dictionary plastic is “ a synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers that can be formed into shape while soft, and then set into inflexible or slightly flexible form”. It was invented by John Wesley Hayatt in 1869. Today, almost 260 million tons of plastic is produced a year. Plastic does not decompose and it stays on the surface for decades, which led to environment and health problems. Therefore people should stop using disposable plastic or at least reduce their consumption of it. The first reason why we should not use disposable plastic is because it pollutes the oceans and kills the marine creatures.

Human body can absorb plastic chemicals such as bisphenol-A or BPA that used in plastic products such as plastic bottles. Human body has the ability to absorb the chemicals that contained in plastic which can led to health problems and cause diseases. Chemicals used in plastic such as BPA and phthalates are dedicated in humans. BPA was found in 96% of the women bodies in the US (Lights, Z. 2012). Accordingly the chemicals in the plastic can enter the human body. Building blocks of the chemicals in plastic, which are a toxic, breaks when its repeatedly cleaned or exposed to heat. Using plastic products for multiple times may release the toxic chemicals in the plastic. Since 1940s BPA has been recognized as a chemical that obstructs normal hormonal function. In 2008, there were concerns from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the possible effects of bisphenol-A on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infant and children (Talsness and Andrade and Kuriyama and Tylor and Saal, 2009). Since 75 years ago, the BPA were known as a chemical with negative impacts on human health. BPA can cause serious problems such as brain issues. In addition, the director of the University of Rochester’s Center for Reproductive Epidemiology Shanna Swan found a connection between the exposures of pregnant women to phthalates and changes in baby boys’ genitals (Knoblanch A. and Environmental Health News, 2009). Pregnant women exposure to phthalates mostly comes from plastic, which is linked to alter boys’ genitals before birth. Due to the bad impacts of plastic many countries banned plastic bags such as Bangladesh and Rwanda, which is also one of the cleanest countries in the world, or placed a tax on their use like Belgium, Germany and Italy to reduce the usage of plastic (Cemansky, R. 2014). So, plastic effects human health badly and cause health