A Brief History of Plastic's Conquest of the World

Cheap plastic has unleashed a flood of consumer goods

By Susan Freinkel
Scientific American
May 29, 2011

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Susan Freinkel's book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story.

Combs are one of our oldest tools, used by humans across cultures and ages for decoration, detangling, and delousing. They derive from the most fundamental human tool of all—the hand. And from the time that humans began using combs instead of their fingers, comb design has scarcely changed, prompting the satirical paper the Onion to publish a piece titled "Comb Technology: Why Is It So Far Behind the Razor and Toothbrush Fields?"

The Stone Age craftsman who made the oldest known comb—a small four-toothed number carved from animal bone some eight thousand years ago—would have no trouble knowing what to do with the bright blue plastic version sitting on my bathroom counter.

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