Health Hazards Lurk, Burning Plastic Waste Poses Cancer Risk
The problem of plastic waste remains a serious challenge. Amid efforts to find cheaper and more practical solutions, a practice has emerged in a number of food industries that utilise plastic waste as fuel in the frying process.
According to Benedikta Diah Saraswati, SSi, MBiomed, a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and Nutrition at IPB University, this practice has the potential to pose health risks because it can produce various harmful compounds that contaminate food products and the environment around industrial centres.
Gas emissions from burning plastic can contaminate products during the production process. “Plastic that is burned incompletely will release highly stable toxic compounds, especially dioxins and furans. Due to their lipophilic nature, these compounds easily bind to fats and proteins, thus potentially accumulating in food products,” said Diah.
Biomedically, dioxins and furans belong to a group of persistent organic pollutants that can remain in the human body for a very long time. Diah explained that long-term exposure is genotoxic because it can damage DNA.
“Long-term accumulation can trigger chronic inflammation, liver dysfunction, hormonal system disorders, and increase the risk of cancer,” she explained.
Diah added that these contaminants can enter the body through the consumption of exposed food. In addition to toxic chemicals, the burning of plastic also contributes to increased exposure to microplastics in the air, which can be inhaled or deposited on foodstuffs. These tiny particles have the potential to enter the respiratory or digestive tract and spread to various organs of the body.
The Liver: The Most Vulnerable Organ
The most vulnerable organ is the liver or hepar. “The liver works hard to detoxify toxins. However, because the chemical structure of dioxins and furans is very stable and difficult to break down, it causes an excessive workload that triggers inflammation,” she said.
In addition, these compounds are also known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that can interfere with the hormonal system. Diah emphasised that these substances can mimic or inhibit the body’s natural hormones, thereby risking disruption to the reproductive and metabolic systems.
In fact, exposure can penetrate the placental barrier. “This means that in pregnant women, these substances have the potential to accumulate and interfere with foetal development,” she said.
The health risks are not only experienced by consumers, but also by communities living near industrial centres. According to Diah, plastic combustion smoke contains fine PM2,5 particles and microplastics in the air that can be inhaled into the lungs. “These particles are difficult for the body’s defence system to break down and can trigger continuous inflammation,” she explained.
In the short term, exposure can cause respiratory problems such as coughing and acute respiratory infections. If it persists for a long time, this condition has the potential to develop into chronic lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as reducing immunity, especially in children and the elderly.
Diah emphasised that the most important step to reduce health risks is to stop using plastic waste as fuel. “As long as the source of pollution still exists, health risks will continue to recur,” she said.
As a self protection measure, she advised the public to use respirator masks such as N95 when exposed to smoke, maintain home ventilation, avoid using plastic for hot food, and increase consumption of fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants such as vitamin E, vitamin C, and selenium.
“This intake can help the body fight cell damage caused by free radicals from plastic contaminants, although it does not completely eliminate the risk,” she concluded. (Fj) (IAAS/LAN)
