The Honorable Jason Smith
Chairman,
The Committee on Ways and Means
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Mr. Chairman,

Over the last several years, the ill effects of microplastics in our air and water, which carry them into plants, animals, and humans, have slowly been revealed.

The prestigious British medical journal The Lancet concluded that the annual global health costs associated with microplastics in humans amount to $1.5 trillion per year. Last year, a study in the Journal of the Endocrine Society estimated the cost to the U.S. health system at $250 billion a year. 

A March 2024 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that microplastics in the carotid plaque of heart disease patients increased the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death by 4.5 times over a three-year period. Research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in March 2025 found that higher exposure to microplastics correlates with increased rates of chronic diseases, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

Published in the journal PLOS One, scientists from the Université de Toulouse in France

found the average adult inhales 71,000 microplastic particles every single day, while indoors –100 times higher than previous estimates.

In the next reconciliation bill, please consider: i) allowing HHS to create a benefit to remove plastics from Americans’ bodies and blood, ii) making plastic removal a qualified medical expense, and iii) offering significant tax breaks to companies that develop cost-effective ways to eliminate microplastics from air, water, and food.

Mr. Chairman, you have successfully led on so many topics; I hope you will consider leading on this one as well.