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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Experts have warned that lack of proper testing has allowed hazardous chemicals found in plastic goods, especially bottled water, to pose a serious risk to the health of millions of people in the Kurdistan Region.
Lagal Ranj, a weekly program aired on Rudaw TV, dedicated this week’s episode to tackle the issue of plastic pollution, the increased usage of plastic goods in the Kurdistan Region, and their impact on public health.
There are nearly 20 water bottling companies in Kurdistan, according to data obtained by Rudaw, including eight in Sulaimani.
Sulaimani’s inspection directorate told Rudaw that they constantly monitor the water bottling companies, adding that most of the plastic bottles have passed their tests but some have been punished for their poor quality bottles
There are no laboratories in the Kurdistan Region to test plastic materials to international standards. All laboratories are affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Government.
“We are in a plastic crisis. What exacerbates the issue is the failure to respond or acknowledge the crisis. It is like falling sick without feeling the symptoms of the disease until it destroys you - premature death,” environmentalist Karzan Ali said during the Lagal Ranj program.
He warned that plastic pollution causes more deaths in the Region than attacks by Turkey and Iran, but its impact is hidden. Turkish and Iranian cross border bombardments on Kurdish rebels and civilians have claimed the lives of dozens of people in recent years.
“Plastics include hundreds of chemical substances that do not stay in the plastic but leaches away. This depends on the quality of the plastic,” noted the environmentalist. “I believe that quality control, regarding plastic, [in Kurdistan Region] is very weak.”
Ali tested Sulaimani’s lakes and found that the waters were severely polluted.
“I was part of a team from Sulaimani Polytechnic University that received funding with the help of the university presidency and the Spanish Research Council. We researched what level plastic has reached in this country… We found sediment 65 metres deep in our lakes. We found an amount of plastic and microplastic that is 40 times the standard average,” he said.
The tests were conducted at the University College London (UCL), he added.
“Microplastic in the sediment was 65 meters deep in the water. We took [samples] from the top of the water, a meter below the surface, and from the sediment. We found out that there was plastic… If plastic reaches there, it can reach seafood, fish, and this means it will reach our bodies as well,” he noted.
Ali said that each person in the Kurdistan Region consumes five grams of plastic every week, according to the latest statistics. “This amount leaves a significant impact on our bodies,” he warned. It can cause premature death and alter hormone levels, something that he said is very common in the Kurdistan Region.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) last year published a report on chemicals in plastics.
“Based on the latest studies, more than 13,000 chemicals have been identified as associated with plastics and plastic production across a wide range of applications,” read the report. “Chemicals of concern have been found in plastics across a wide range of sectors and products value chains, including toys and other children's products, packaging (including food contact materials), electrical and electronic equipment, vehicles, synthetic textiles and related materials, furniture, building materials, medical devices, personal care and household products, and agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries.”
The report added that “Chemicals of concern in plastics can impact our health and our environment. Extensive scientific data on the potential adverse impacts of about 7,000 substances associated with plastics show that more than 3,200 of them have one or more hazardous properties of concern.”
Lashkir Hamid is a food engineer. He told Rudaw during the program that most of the over 3,000 chemicals identified by the UN to “have one or more hazardous properties of concern” are found in plastic goods in the Kurdistan Region.
“I can openly say that the testing of the quality of plastics does not meet international standards at all,” he charged, adding that tests conducted by Kurdish authorities at the border crossings are “basic tests that fail to detect the dangers of plastic.”
To access tests that are not available in the Kurdistan Region, Hamid said he carried out tests abroad of plastics used here and the results showed that all of them included Bisphenol A (BPA).
“Human health effects from BPA at low environmental exposures are unknown. BPA has been shown to affect the reproductive systems of laboratory animals. More research is needed to understand the human health effects of exposure to BPA,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a leading health service organisation in the United States.
The food engineer said that the competition between companies has resulted in quality being compromised. He blamed the government for failing to carry out inspections.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019 called for “a further assessment of microplastics in the environment and their potential impacts on human health, following the release of an analysis of current research related to microplastics in drinking water.”
It also called for “a reduction in plastic pollution to benefit the environment and reduce human exposure.”
Handren Sheikh Raghib, head of media at the Environmental Protection and Improvement Board, told Rudaw that the issue of plastic has economic and environmental dimensions.
Political stability and financial and economic stability as well as good management are the main requirements for a healthy environment, he said, adding that “the environment should be treated as a sovereign issue.”
He acknowledged that his board lacks authority to mitigate the impact of plastic use.
“We have conveyed to the relevant authorities what we should do, but the board does not have the authority to execute [the recommendations] or ban [plastic].”
He said his board has banned the use of bottled water for all its own staff to protect the environment and instead use tap water.
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