Insights & Events

Plastics News recently published an article by Hollingsworth LLP attorneys Heather A. Pigman and Kate O. Granruth regarding microplastics, which are currently defined by U.S. regulatory agencies as small pieces of plastic measuring less than five millimeters in at least one dimension. “Microplastics” has quickly become the latest buzzword in popular media outlets, including newspapers, magazines, and social media. Many of these media outlets claim that exposures to microplastics are toxic and a danger to human health.

These claims ignore the lack of scientific consensus regarding whether exposure to microplastics adversely impacts human health. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website notes that reliable scientific evidence has not established that microplastics are a danger to human health and that studies “finding” adverse human health effects “have used methods of variable, questionable, and/or limited accuracy and specificity.”

The lack of scientific consensus has not deterred a flurry of legal cases in the personal injury and consumer protection spaces alleging that exposure to microplastics harms humans. The increasing popular and social media coverage of microplastics, as well as the EPA’s forthcoming proposal to add microplastics to a list of priority pollutants in drinking water, create risks for companies who may be drawn into microplastics-based litigation either as defendant manufacturers or as downstream sellers. Following the science in this area, as well as working with effective legal counsel, will be important action items for companies in this space.