Publication - Briefing Note

31 July 2025

Considerations for Ensuring Protection of Human Health From Plastic Pollution in the Future Treaty

The resumed fifth session of negotiations for an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution taking place in Geneva from 5 to 14 August 2025 provides a vital opportunity for the international community to establish the protection of human health and the environment as an objective of the treaty, and to ensure that the treaty’s provisions adequately integrate and reflect human health priorities together with environmental protection.

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that plastic pollution has a range of impacts on human health and the environment across the full life cycle of plastics. As negotiations to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution have advanced, a diversity of governments have called for the objective of the future treaty to include the protection of human health and the environment from plastic pollution.

This informal briefing note has been prepared ahead of the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5.2), to support INC members’ discussions on how to reflect elements essential to achieving the protection of human health from plastic pollution in the future treaty.

It addresses the following questions:

  • How could an integrated approach to the protection of human health, considering the full life cycle of plastics, be reflected in the treaty text?
  • What role could a dedicated article on human health play in supporting international cooperation, and what measures should it include to effectively protect human health?
  • In what ways could a dedicated article on human health be complemented in other areas of the treaty text? What are some specific priorities in relation to other articles that could support achievement of the objective of protecting human health and the environment from plastic pollution?

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Recommended citation: TESS. (2024). Considerations for ensuring protection of human health from plastic pollution in the future treaty. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs (TESS).

Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations

This publication is part of our initiative promoting an ambitious, effective, and fair treaty that strengthens the international cooperation needed to end plastic pollution.