"A committee of expert advisers is calling for stronger environmental regulations to protect children from plastics and other harmful chemicals, despite a dissenting industry position claiming there is little evidence that plastic is toxic to children.
The Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee was asked a year ago by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review scientific findings and then weigh in on several questions related to how plastic and related chemicals may affect children and what the agency should do about it.
The committee’s responses were posted publicly to the EPA website last week. A letter from the committee signed by 23 scientists, local government officials, health experts and advocates, pointed to “significant human health concerns” across the entire life cycle of plastic, with children especially vulnerable, and laid out several moves the agency should take.
“The science is clear that plastic pollution can harm children’s health and raise risks of developmental disabilities, birth defects, cancers, and other serious diseases — especially in communities that are subject to cumulative and aggregate exposures,” the committee letter states. “These harms can occur throughout the life cycle of plastics.”"
Brian Bienkowski reports for The New Lede November 13, 2025.
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