26 Jan 2022 --- Toxic substances found in plastic consumer products can have “severe consequences” for human obesity levels. This is according to a study by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), which revealed chemicals commonly used in plastics products can negatively impact human metabolism. The NTNU researchers found chemicals from one-third of the plastic products investigated in the study were found to contribute to fat cell development in laboratory experiments. For a long time, experts believed that most chemicals in plastics would not leach from the product. However, the new research demonstrates that plastic products leach a large number of chemicals under real-world conditions, thus enabling them to enter the body.“From my experience, the plastic industry is very reluctant to acknowledge that there is a problem with toxic chemicals in their products,” Martin Wagner, biologist and professor for environmental toxicology at NTNU, tells PackagingInsights. “This [lack of acknowledgement] is unfortunate because there is an immense room for innovating safer materials that will be beneficial for public health.”
