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Dr Costas Velis will bring expertise on the escalating human health impacts of plastic pollution to landmark new global initiative.

has released and launched a wider global initiative to monitor and address the plastics and human health crisis. The ‘Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics’ will serve as an independent, health-focused monitoring system. It will track the effects of plastics across their entire life cycle, from production to end-of-life and their dispersal in the environment, linking these to the consequences to human health. 

The Countdown will develop and track indicators across four key domains: production and emissions, exposures, health impacts, interventions and engagement.

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Among the key contributors to this initiative is Dr Costas Velis from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who has been appointed Co-Chair of the Working Group on ‘Exposure’ within the Countdown and is also a Co-Author of the report. Dr Velis, a recognised expert in plastic pollution and circular economy, will help lead the development of indicators that track the health impacts of plastics and inform global policy responses.  

Dr Velis has been championing the assessment, and raising awareness of, the detrimental aspects of plastic pollution on human health, such as the open and uncontrolled burning of plastics, which can occur in the absence of waste collection and disposal. 

Dr Velis said: “Over 50 million metric tonnes of plastic waste every year now pollute our planet and our bodies, mainly through open burning and dumping. But worsening harm is not inevitable. Through the Countdown, we aim to generate the independent, science-based evidence needed to drive urgent, coordinated action that puts human health at the centre of global efforts to tackle plastic pollution.” 

Dr Velis’ contribution will also include designed to quantify plastic pollution from waste. By linking pollution sources, emissions and environmental pathways, these tools now make it possible to measure ambient exposure to plastic pollution at both local and global scales.  

A call for urgent action

The report, released ahead of the anticipated final round of in Geneva (INC5.2), presents the most comprehensive overview to date of the links between plastic pollution and human health. It warns that plastics can harm human health at every stage of life and disproportionately affect vulnerable populations such as waste pickers, with microplastics and toxic chemicals now found in ecosystems and human bodies worldwide.  

With global plastic production surging from 2 million tonnes in 1950 to 475 million tonnes in 2022, and projected to reach 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060, the scale of the crisis is accelerating. Microplastics and toxic chemicals linked to plastics have been found in human blood, placenta, brain, and food. The health-related economic toll is estimated at $1.5 trillion annually, while plastic production contributes around 5% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions. In response, the report supports the Global Plastics Treaty and launches the Countdown.  

Modelled on the successful , this new initiative aims to bring the same level of visibility and urgency to the health impacts of plastic pollution. It will publish regular updates to support evidence-based policymaking and international cooperation. 

Further details on the Report and Countdown can be found on the