Understanding the Impacts of Product Packaging, with Boma Brown-West

Published: Oct. 25, 2021, midnight

In this episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Boma Brown-West, director of consumer health at Environmental Defense Fund. Brown-West works on a wide range of issues related to the safety of consumer products, and she discusses some of the risks associated with packaging. Along with the well-known environmental damages from plastic pollution, Brown-West and Raimi dig into the lesser-known risks to human health from the chemicals that are part of the packaging people consume every day. Whether it\u2019s single-use plastics, food containers, or even pizza boxes, there\u2019s reason to be concerned, and there\u2019s a lot we don\u2019t know about how these products affect our long-term health.\n\nReferences and recommendations:\n\n\u201cThe world has a packaging problem\u2014a new tool gives companies the ability to fix it\u201d by Boma Brown-West; https://www.greenbiz.com/article/world-has-packaging-problem-new-tool-gives-companies-ability-fix-it\n\nThe \u201cUnderstanding Packaging Scorecard\u201d from Environmental Defense Fund; https://upscorecard.org/\n\n\u201cAmerican War\u201d by Omar El Akkad; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/543957/american-war-by-omar-el-akkad/9780771009419\n\n\u201cDegrees\u201d podcast from Environmental Defense Fund; https://business.edf.org/degrees/\n\n\u201cUp to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town\u201d by Colin Jerolmack; https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691179032/up-to-heaven-and-down-to-hell