The team recently spent 3 years screening more than 100,000 papers to find studies on plastic getting into the human body and how it could be harming our health.

After doing this screening, they came up with 3,500 primary studies on plastic health from 1960 to 2022.

These finding have been used to create the first-of-its-kind interactive Plastic Health Map, which maps the existing research on the effects of plastic chemicals on human health.

The Plastic Health Map includes a comprehensive list of plasticizers (e.g. phthalates), flame retardants (e.g. PCBs), bisphenols, PFASs, and polymers.

1,500 individual compounds went into the research for related human health studies.

In the absence of health monitoring for these plastic chemicals, the Plastic Health Map shows what has been studied over several decades and is a tool to help us transition to a world where plastic is more sustainable, safer, and free of toxic chemicals.

The Plastic Health Map is an open access tool for researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and interested citizens on the state of human health research and plastic chemicals exposure. It provides important insights for policy, governance, and further scientific enquiry.

Bottom line, this map is a gift to the research world and the policy makers.

The database includes interactive plots and heatmaps showing the number of articles published each year.

The plots and heatmaps can be filtered by plastic chemical class, individual chemical, health outcome category, year of publication, study design, population (including country), age group and general/special exposure risk.

Article references can be viewed and downloaded based on the filters selected.

You can EXPLORE THE DATA at minderoo.org/plastic-health-map