Synopsis
At The Royal Children’s Hospital, we recognise the significant impact of healthcare delivery on environmental pollution and climate change, and that these have direct impact on the health and wellbeing of children. To commemorate World Environment Day on June 5th, the Campus Sustainability Committee has organised this Grand Round to highlight the increasing concern around plastics – their production, use and disposal – as a major hazard to human health. In 2022-2023 the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health comprehensively examined the scope of plastics’ hazards and harms to human and planetary health across the entire plastic lifecycle, and called for the need to address the global health impacts of plastics through the world’s adoption of a strong, comprehensive Global Plastics Treaty. Foetuses, infants and young children are particularly at high risk of plastic-related health consequences, including effects on their respiratory, endocrine, neurodevelopmental and cardiovascular systems from plastic-related chemicals and indirect effects of environmental degradation.
We present the latest evidence of harms and hazards of plastics and discuss what healthcare, research and public health communities have to offer in rising to this global issue.
We will also discuss RCH’s work towards decreasing our own plastic use and give a broader update on the sustainability initiatives taking place across the Campus.
Finally we will provide an overview of the upcoming Sustainable Health Care competition, which provides a supportive environment and framework for staff to implement a sustainability project within their respective areas. Entries open on World Environment Day.
Speakers
Dr Christos Symeonides is a general and developmental paediatrician at the RCH’s Centre for Community Child Health, as well as a researcher in environmental toxicology and Clinical and Research Principal, Plastics and Human Health, at the Minderoo Foundation. His work has challenged his own assumptions about plastics and led him to conclude that plastics are “not simple, not cheap, not convenient, not inert and not sustainable.” Working with the Minderoo Foundation and in partnership with scientific bodies, and civil society his work focuses on understanding the human health hazards of plastics and driving change to manage those harms, including through the Global Plastics Treaty currently under negotiation through the UN.
Christos co-led the 2023 Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health and 2024 Plastic Health Umbrella Review, has contributed to key science-policy and public health-policy publications informing the global treaty process such as the recent 2024 UNICEF Generation Plastic report, and directly participates in the formal processes of the Global Plastics Treaty through attending formal negotiation meetings with other delegates of observer organisations and in an invited technical capacity last year in the Intersessional Expert Working Group meetings.
Francesca Stafford is the RCH’s Sustainability Manager. Francesca joined the organisation in April 2024 and oversees the delivery of the Campus Sustainability Plan which includes projects such as improving waste and recycling outcomes, establishing a kitchen garden, reducing the impact of common pharmaceuticals and increasing staff and patient access to green spaces. Prior to this, Francesca had 10 years of experience gained from working with the Department of Defense, and in the events and hospitality industries.