The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics

Philip J Landrigan¹, Sarah Dunlop², Marina Treskova³, Hervé Raps⁴, Christos Symeonides⁵, Jane Muncke⁶, Margaret Spring⁷, John Stegeman⁸, Bethanie Carney Almroth⁹, Thomas C Chiles¹⁰, Maureen Cropper¹¹, Megan Deeney¹², Lizzie Fuller¹³, Roland Geyer¹⁴, Rachel Karasik¹⁵, Tiza Mafira¹⁶, Alexander Mangwiro¹⁷, Denise Margaret Matias¹⁸, Yannick Mulders², Yongjoon Park¹⁹, Costas A Velis²⁰, Roel Vermeulen²¹, Martin Wagner²², Zhanyung Wang²³, Ella M Whitman²⁴, Tracey J Woodruff²⁵, Joacim Rocklöv³

Affiliations

¹ Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; Biomedical Department, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco. Electronic address: landrigp@bc.edu.
² School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia; Plastics and Human Health, Minderoo Foundation, Perth, WA, Australia.
³ Heidelberg Institute of Global Health and Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Computing, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
⁴ Biomedical Department, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco.
⁵ Plastics and Human Health, Minderoo Foundation, Perth, WA, Australia; Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁶ Food Packaging Forum, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁷ Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
⁹ Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
¹⁰ Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA; Resources for the Future, Washington DC, WA, USA.
¹² Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
¹³ Sheltering Earth, Byron Bay, NSW, Australia.
¹⁴ Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
¹⁵ Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁶ Dietplastik Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia; PR3: the Global Alliance to Advance Reuse, USA.
¹⁷ Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, UN Environment Program, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁸ Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Eberswalde, Germany; Non-Timber Forest Products, Exchange Programme Asia, Quezon City, Philippines; Manila Observatory, Quezon City, Philippines; Center for Development Research, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
²⁰ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK.
²¹ Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Division of Environmental Epidemiology and Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
²² Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
²³ Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Particles-Biology Interactions Laboratory, St. Gallen, Switzerland; National Centre of Competence in Research Catalysis, Zürich, Switzerland.
²⁴ Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
²⁵ Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.

PMID: 40769171
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01447-3

Review

The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics

Philip J Landrigan et al. Lancet. 2025.

. 2025 Sep 6;406(10507):1044-1062.

doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01447-3. Epub 2025 Aug 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; Biomedical Department, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco. Electronic address: landrigp@bc.edu.
² School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia; Plastics and Human Health, Minderoo Foundation, Perth, WA, Australia.
³ Heidelberg Institute of Global Health and Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Computing, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
⁴ Biomedical Department, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco.
⁵ Plastics and Human Health, Minderoo Foundation, Perth, WA, Australia; Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁶ Food Packaging Forum, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁷ Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
⁹ Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
¹⁰ Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA; Resources for the Future, Washington DC, WA, USA.
¹² Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
¹³ Sheltering Earth, Byron Bay, NSW, Australia.
¹⁴ Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
¹⁵ Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁶ Dietplastik Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia; PR3: the Global Alliance to Advance Reuse, USA.
¹⁷ Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, UN Environment Program, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁸ Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Eberswalde, Germany; Non-Timber Forest Products, Exchange Programme Asia, Quezon City, Philippines; Manila Observatory, Quezon City, Philippines; Center for Development Research, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
²⁰ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK.
²¹ Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Division of Environmental Epidemiology and Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
²² Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
²³ Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Particles-Biology Interactions Laboratory, St. Gallen, Switzerland; National Centre of Competence in Research Catalysis, Zürich, Switzerland.
²⁴ Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
²⁵ Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.

PMID: 40769171
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01447-3

Erratum in

Department of Error.
[No authors listed] [No authors listed] Lancet. 2025 Sep 6;406(10507):1008. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01772-6. Lancet. 2025. PMID: 40914588 No abstract available.

Abstract

Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health. Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding US$1·5 trillion annually. These impacts fall disproportionately upon low-income and at-risk populations. The principal driver of this crisis is accelerating growth in plastic production-from 2 megatonnes (Mt) in 1950, to 475 Mt in 2022 that is projected to be 1200 Mt by 2060. Plastic pollution has also worsened, and 8000 Mt of plastic waste now pollute the planet. Less than 10% of plastic is recycled. Yet, continued worsening of plastics' harms is not inevitable. Similar to air pollution and lead, plastics' harms can be mitigated cost-effectively by evidence-based, transparently tracked, effectively implemented, and adequately financed laws and policies. To address plastics' harms globally, UN member states unanimously resolved in 2022 to develop a comprehensive, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, namely the Global Plastics Treaty covering the full lifecycle of plastic. Coincident with the expected finalisation of this treaty, we are launching an independent, indicator-based global monitoring system: the Lancet Countdown on health and plastics. This Countdown will identify, track, and regularly report on a suite of geographically and temporally representative indicators that monitor progress toward reducing plastic exposures and mitigating plastics' harms to human and planetary health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests PJL received study and travel support from the Minderoo Foundation; and consulting fees from the Centre Scientifique de Monaco. SD received travel support from the Minderoo Foundation and Centre Scientifique de Monaco; and is employed by the Minderoo Foundation. CS is employed by and received travel support from the Minderoo Foundation; and is on the data safety monitoring board for Murdoch Children's Research Institute. JM received grants from the Minderoo Foundation, Fondation Didier et Martine Primat, Minerva Stiftung, the Adessium Foundation, the Broad Reach Foundation, the Marisla Foundation, the Spronck Foundation, the Sympany Foundation, the Norwegian Research Council and Norwegian University of Technology Trondheim, and the European Commission Utrecht; honoraria from the Pew Charitable Trust, Japan Endocrine-Disruptor Preventive Action, and HEJ Support; travel support from Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Endocrine Disruptors 2024, Zero Waste Europe, the Stoelzle Group, Boston College (MA, USA), Uppsala Health Summit, New York University Plastics Summit, Heinrich–Böll–Stiftung, and the Plastic Health Council; was on the advisory board for the MOMENTUM project and the UN Global Plastics Treaty; is a committee member for Bio Suisse; is member of the foundation board for Global Footprint Network; is Director of the FAN Initiative Foresight Analyses Nexus; and is a member of the steering board for the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty. MS is employed by, receives support, and travel support from the Monterey Bay Aquarium; is Chair of Environmental Health Matters Initiative Committee on Microplastics and Health Webinars for the National Academy of Sciences; and is the Chair of Expert Group on Plastic Pollution for the International Science Council. BCA received sup-port from New York University (NY, USA) for attending the NYU Langone Health Summit 2024. MC received grants and travel support from the Minderoo Foundation. LF received support from Boston College (MA, USA); and consults as an independent consultant to Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Forum on Trade, Environment and SDGs. RK received grants from Pew Charitable Trusts, Duke University (NC, USA), the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UN Development Programme, and ClimateWorks; travel support from University of Portsmouth (UK); and is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Roundtable on Plastics Committee. TM received support from the Minderoo Foundation; grants from the Resolve Foundation and Plastics Solutions Fund; and has a leadership or fiduciary role for the Climate Policy Initiative, the Asia Reuse Consortium, and Break Free From Plastic. DMM received travel support from the Minderoo Foundation. YM received support from the Minderoo Foundation. YP received support from the Minderoo Foundation. CAV received grants from the UK Research Innovation and Global Challenges Research Fund, Grid-Arendal, The World Bank Group via UN Operations and International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the EU via UK Research Innovation grant agreement; consulting fees from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), EMG, the Resources and Waste Advisory Group (with funds from GIZ), the ICF (with funds from The Pew Charitable Trusts), and MARS (via Imperial Consultants); honoraria from Frontiers, Brunel University (UK), and Imperial College London (UK); travel support from The UN Environment Programme International Environmental Technology Centre and Global Partnership on Marine Litter, Boston College (MA, USA), the International Solid Waste Association, University of the Aegean, the National Technical University of Athens (Greece), Yildiz Technical University (Türkiye), and the British Embassy Athens and Athanasios C Laskaridis Charitable Foundation; is on the steering committee for Systemiq Indonesia; is Chair of the International Solid Waste Association Marine Litter Task Force; is on the policy and innovation forum for the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management; and is the owner and Director of Fuelogy. MW received grants from the Norwegian Environment Agency; travel support from the Geneva Graduate Institute and the Food Packaging Forum Foundation; is a member of the scientific advisory board for the Food Packaging Forum Foundation; and is on the steering committee for the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty. ZW received grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (180544), the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation (grant 101036756), the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (8T20/17.0103.PJ), the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (18.000809), the Canton of Zurich's Office for Waste, Water, Energy and Air (85P-1454), and the OECD; consulting fees from the Norwegian Environment Agency; and travel support from the International Panel on Chemical Pollution. TJW received support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the JPB Foundation, Tides and Broadreach, National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Passport Foundation, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, US Environmental Protection Agency and ICF, the Marisla Foundation, National Institutes of Health Centre for Scientific Review, the Forsythia Foundation, the Cornell Douglass Foundation, and The Fine Fund (all paid to institute); honoraria from the New York State Department of Health; travel support from the Society for birth Defects Research & Prevention, the JPB Foundation, and the University of Southern California (CA, USA); is an advisory board member for National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Committee on National Academies Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology (BEST), US Environmental Protection Agency, Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), University of California State Policy Evidence Consortium (CalSPEC), and The Examination; is a committee reviewer for the University of Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center and California State University (CA, USA); is a member of Healthy Babies Bright Futures Advisory Board and Science Action Network for Health and the Environment; and has shares in Fannie MAE. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics

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The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics

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