Could a ‘Plastic Detox’ Help With Health and Fertility?

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

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Summary

The new Netflix documentary “The Plastic Detox” follows six couples struggling with unexplained infertility, asking them to cut plastic from their lives to see if that could help them conceive. While not a scientific study, the film explores the intriguing possibility that reducing everyday plastic exposure can actually improve our health. But how likely is this? We talk with the fertility researcher and one of the couples in the documentary to hear what they think we should — and should not — take away from the experiment. Guests: Shanna Swan, professor of environmental medicine, Icahn School of Medicine; founder and director, Action Science Initiative Monique Tavares, owner, San Ramon construction company BL Pavers; participant, “The Plastic Detox” Jasmine McDonald, associate professor of epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:40.8	From KQED.
0:44.1	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim.
0:46.7	Trying to rid our lives of plastic can feel overwhelming and even fruitless since it's basically
0:52.2	everywhere. But a buzzy new Netflix documentary that sparking
0:55.9	both hope and a lot of debate suggests it might be worth the effort to improve our health
1:00.9	and even our fertility. It features six couples trying to have a baby who embark on a three-month
1:06.5	plastic detox, which also happens to be the documentary's title. Their results are far from
1:11.9	conclusive, but along the way, the couples and viewers get a crash course on the potential
1:17.0	harms to our health and planet from chemicals and plastic, and the intriguing possibility
1:21.9	that reducing exposure, even for a short time, can have measurable results. Joining me now is Dr. Shana Swan, whose research is central to the film.
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