'I am angry': Alberta farmers will continue fight over world class motorsport resort
The rolling hills leading to the hamlet of Rosebud are dotted with sprawling farms and cattle pastures -- and a sign sporting a simple message: No Race Track.
A collaborative new report has detailed the wide-ranging health impacts of plastics, right from their production all the way to their use and eventual disposal.
An analysis released Tuesday by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Cape Code, Mass., found that along with contributing to climate change, "plastics cause disease, impairment and premature mortality at every stage of their life cycle."
This includes the health and occupational hazards of plastic production, the ingestion and inhalation of microplastic and nanoplastic particles, and their ability to transmit pathogenic microorganisms.
Toxic chemicals added to plastics are also known to increase the risk of miscarriage, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer, the researchers say.
But while the potential harms from plastics to human health may be news to some, the researchers say scientists have been aware of the negative environmental impacts for decades.
"It's only been a little over 50 years since we've been aware of the presence of plastics throughout the ocean," said John Stegeman, a senior scientist in the Department of Biology at WHOI and one of the lead authors on a section in the report about the impact of plastics on oceans.
Scientists at the Minderoo Foundation, Centre Scientifique de Monaco and Boston College led the report, called The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health.
The researchers say current plastic production, use and disposal are both unsustainable and responsible for "significant harm to human health, the economy and the environment — especially the ocean — as well as deep societal injustices."
Plastics make up approximately four to five per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions across their life cycle, the report says, about the same as all emissions from Russia.
As part of the study, the researchers estimated the cost of plastic production on health to be approximately US$250 billion over a 12-month period, based on data from 2015. The researchers say this is greater than the GDPs of either New Zealand or Finland for that year.
The issue of plastics disproportionately affects vulnerable, low-income minority communities, particularly children, the researchers say.
Along with hundreds of billions dollars more in health-care costs caused by the chemicals in plastics, they say poorer communities, where fast food and discount stores are more common, are exposed to more plastic packaging, products and associated chemicals.
The scientists recommend better monitoring of the effects of plastics and their associated chemicals on marine species, as well as more information on the concentrations of the smallest plastic particles in marine environments.
With a global plastics treaty in the works at the United Nations, the researchers say its focus should extend beyond marine litter to include the entire life cycle of plastics.
The rolling hills leading to the hamlet of Rosebud are dotted with sprawling farms and cattle pastures -- and a sign sporting a simple message: No Race Track.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
A man who tried to access Drake’s Bridle Path mansion earlier this week returned to the property Saturday and was apprehended again for allegedly trespassing, Toronto police say.
Multiple people at the protest camp torn down at the University of Alberta campus Saturday say police's actions against protesters were "violent" and "disproportionate."
When West Virginia Republicans vote in Tuesday's primary, they will have a hard time finding a major candidate on the ballot in any statewide race who openly acknowledges that U.S. President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday called Donald Trump “clearly unhinged” and claimed that “something snapped” in the former president after he lost the 2020 election.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.