Revisiting Chemicals of Concern in the PlastChem Report: Addressing the Challenges, Gaps, and Future Directions

Abstract Chemical compounds released from plastics are of great concern as some of them could be hazardous to the environment and human health. Recently, a hazard-based assessment was applied to an extensive data set of 16 325 known plastic chemicals (the PlastChem database). Using this approach, 4219 chemicals of concern were identified on the basis that they are persistent, bioaccumulative, mobile, or toxic. A small portion of the chemicals of concern (568) is already regulated globally; the rest of them (3651 chemicals) constitute the so-called Red List. Because of the enormous importance of the chemicals of concern, several articles published in high-impact scientific journals called for immediate action. They insist that the chemicals from the Red List should be regulated and curtailed within the scope of the forthcoming Plastic Treaty currently being developed under UNEA Resolution 5/14. Here, we report a critical overview of the Red List and show that about 30% of its entries appear questionable, which calls for further in-depth analysis and comprehensive revision of the list. Furthermore, we argue that the hazard-based assessment should serve only as an initial screening tool. The Red List of plastic chemicals of concern should also be subjected to risk-based assessment through tiered exposure filtering before adoption by any global regulatory framework.