Polymers - environmental and health problem

Every person cares about health in the first place. Therefore, ecology and nature conservation should become a major item in the life of each of us. Today we live in a world where there are countless pollutants and other toxic substances that are harmful to human health.

Among them are materials that in everyday use in our lives have a detrimental effect on human health. Whether in the space we live and spend most of our time in, whether outdoors or through the food we eat we come in contact with a large number of these materials that can affect our health in many ways.

Polymers make up a large part of these materials. There are currently over 30,000 different natural and synthetic polymers, of which 10% are synthetic polymers that are also the most widely used in everyday life, and the rest are natural polymers. Polymers are macromolecular compounds formed by the bonding of a large number of atoms, most commonly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.

How harmful are polymers to human health?

Every year, the polymer industry records a new increase in the production of these materials, mostly in the food industry, and slightly less growth in other industries. Man comes into contact with these materials on a daily basis in a variety of ways. Most often through food packaged in those materials, by touching those materials and inhaling the substances that those materials release. The substances contained in these materials migrate to the food, human skin and his endocrine system. In the same way they pass into the soil, the sea, the groundwater, in other words into the whole ecosystem. For this reason, it is necessary to know how these substances affect human health and the environment. Due to the multiplicity of these substances, it is not possible for all of them to be tested and to know their toxicity, carcinogenicity or some other form of harmfulness. Everyday research leads to new insights, and thus to answers to the questions asked.

You can find out what the most important polymers are, the use of polymers, toxicity and harmfulness to human health at the link below.