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Plastics are definitely not inert. They are made from chemicals that will drop you dead in a heartbeat at certain concentrations (vinyl chloride anyone?). Whether or not the finished products pose significant health risks is still being studied and will be for a long time. There are thousands of different types of plastics out there and I'm sure some will be found to cause some degree of harm.
That said, I'm going to side with guido this time and say that they are now so ubiquitous in the environment that anyone alive today is, and will be, exposed to them for a long time. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't take steps to keep more plastic from entering the environment. For starters, the US and other western nations should stop sending plastic to Asian countries for "recycling." Much of it isn't recycled, its dumped into rivers and then gets washed into the sea during monsoon season.
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