Plastic Bags: A Danger Threatening Life and the Environment in Iraq

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[size=52]Plastic Bags: A Danger Threatening Life and the Environment in Iraq[/size]

[size=45]Plastic bags are one of the most prominent environmental problems facing Iraq today, as their use has become a major threat to life and the environment. Plastic bags accumulate in the streets and water, leading to pollution of natural resources and deterioration of the ecosystem.[/size]
[size=45]It also causes the death of many living organisms as a result of swallowing it or stumbling into it. Environmental studies indicate that plastic materials take hundreds of years to decompose, which further exacerbates the problem and increasingly threatens public health and the environment in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]This environmental crisis requires urgent action to reduce the use of plastic bags and raise awareness of their environmental and health damage.[/size]
[size=45]The head of the Strategic Center for Human Rights, Fadhel Al-Gharawi, confirmed in a statement that “the use of plastic bags has become a danger to life and the environment in Iraq, in addition to animals,” calling on the government to “ban the import or manufacture of plastic bags intended for daily use.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "More than (700) species of wild and marine animals are seriously harmed by these bags."[/size]
[size=45]He explained that “using plastic bags to buy bread or wrap hot foods in Iraq leads to harmful substances seeping into the loaves of bread, where they melt and disintegrate due to the heat.”[/size]
[size=45]In addition to other pollution that affects humans with chemicals added to plastic, it comes from the meat of animals such as cows and sheep, which sometimes eat plastic bags, which enter their stomachs, then those materials dissolve and concentrate in their meat, bones and milk. When they are eaten, they penetrate the human body and those materials infiltrate the fetuses, when a pregnant woman eats those products, the pollutants reach the fetus through the placenta.[/size]
[size=45]He explained that “most Iraqi homes burn plastic bags in front of their homes or random landfills, which leads to the emission of gases such as phenols, chlorine, and others, which are toxic substances that are released into the atmosphere and inhaled by humans. One gram of phenol can kill a human being in addition to causing respiratory and digestive diseases, cancer, thyroid diseases, and birth defects in fetuses.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Gharawi confirmed that “the decomposition of a plastic bag in the soil takes 10-20 years.”[/size]
[size=45]The head of the Strategic Center for Human Rights called on the government to “ban the import or manufacture of plastic bags for daily use for food and oblige all shops, bakeries and restaurants to use paper bags instead, in addition to announcing investment opportunities to establish paper bag factories according to health specifications, and launching a national campaign entitled “Your Health Matters to Us” to raise awareness of the dangers of plastic bags.”[/size]
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