The California state government in the United States should better regulate plastics, says the south Los Angeles-based reproductive justice organization Black Women for Wellness. The organization, which interviewed local community members for its new report on plastics, calls on California to legislate a US$5 billion plastic mitigation fund, paid for in part by polluters, to support the communities most impacted by plastics.
Plastics are mostly made of fossil fuels, and the new report echoes Human Rights Watch concerns that Black and Brown communities are often hardest hit with health and other harmful impacts from the fossil fuel industry due to the extraction, manufacturing, use of, and disposal of fossil fuel products. Plastics pose significant threats to human health, including reproductive health, and contribute to the climate crisis.
People told Black Women for Wellness that they feel overwhelmed by the unavoidability of exposure to plastics. This is especially the case when families rely on plastic-wrapped, low-cost food and drinks. They also noted how hard it is to find clear information on the health risks of chemicals contained in plastics and how to protect themselves from exposure to these chemicals.
Southern Los Angeles, the focus of the report, has long endured fossil fuel pollution, specifically from oil drilling and extraction. The community is both densely populated and the site of a massive oil field with thousands of active and idle wells that emit hazardous gases. Many years of advocacy was needed to obtain recent promises to reduce drilling and cap idle wells.
Black Women for Wellness fights racism and environmental harms to women’s and reproductive health, issues that are deeply interconnected. As the report notes, “chemicals released during the lifecycle of plastic are endocrine disrupting chemicals, which are linked to reproductive harms and infertility.” More work like this is needed to highlight and warn of the links between myriad forms of fossil fuel industry pollution and adverse maternal and newborn health outcomes, such as preterm birth and low birth weight.
US President Donald J. Trump’s administration has already begun to roll back environmental regulations, which could profoundly harm maternal and reproductive health. This makes the group’s recommendations to the state of California, including increasing public education about the plastic lifecycle, better regulating the fossil fuel industry, and helping communities access more sustainable options, all the more important.
