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Most of us are aware of the scourge of plastic pollution. Its impact on the environment and wildlife is well documented. But what is not so well known is the potential harm microplastics can have on the human body. Studies have shown that these small plastic pieces are accumulating in critical human organs including the brain, heart, and lungs. But how are these potentially dangerous microplastics being ingested, and does the rate of consumption really amount to the anecdotal claim of one credit card's worth of plastic every week?
Click through and lean more about how we are inadvertently eating and imbibing plastic waste.
In an August 2024 report carried in The Guardian, it was revealed that a growing body of scientific evidence showed that microplastics are accumulating in critical human organs.
Studies indicated that tiny shards and specks of plastic had been detected in human brains, hearts, lungs, placentas, reproductive organs, livers, kidneys, knee and elbow joints, blood vessels, and bone marrow.
An examination of the livers, kidneys, and brains of autopsied bodies found that all contained microplastics, with human brain tissue especially prone to plastic pollution.
Indeed, brains exhibited higher concentrations of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) than liver or kidney samples, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
While the health hazards of microplastics within the human body are not yet well known, the findings of the NIH served to highlight an earlier study that assessed plastic ingestion from nature to people.
The study, 'No Plastic in Nature: Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People,' commissioned in 2019 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and carried out by the University of Newcastle in Australia, found that we are consuming about 2,000 tiny pieces of plastic every week. That's approximately 21 grams a month, just over 250 grams a year.
The study's authors crunched the numbers further and discovered that, on average, people could actually be ingesting approximately 5 grams of microplastics every week—that's the equivalent of a credit card!
Microplastics are defined as plastic particles less than 5 mm (a fifth of an inch) across.
Primary microplastics are plastics directly released into the environment in the form of small particulates (shower gel microbeads, tire abrasion, etc.), while secondary microplastics are microplastics originating from the degradation of larger plastic (e.g. degraded plastic bags).
The study revealed that consumption of common food and beverages may result in a weekly ingestion of approximately 5 grams of plastic, depending on consumption habits.
Of the consumables studied, the highest volume of plastic was found in water, shellfish, beer, and salt.
An average person potentially consumes as much as 1,769 particles of plastic every week just from water (both tap and bottled water). In fact, the largest source of plastic ingestion is drinking water, with plastic found in groundwater, surface water, and tap water all over the world.
You could consume up to 182 particles of plastic every week from eating shellfish, for example mussels and oysters. This comes from the
fact that shellfish are eaten whole, including their digestive system, after a life in plastic-polluted seas.
Drinking beer every week translates as potentially consuming 10 particles of plastic. Barley and hops, which are necessary in beer production, are vulnerable to plastic pollution.
And, suggests the study, eating salt every week can mean inadvertently ingesting 11 particles of plastic. Sea salt can be considered as a vector of microplastics in the human body.
The findings of the report demonstrated that the problem of plastic pollution is a universal one and directly affects people everywhere.
Microplastics have been found everywhere—from the deepest place on the planet, the Mariana Trench, to the top of Mount Everest.
According to the World Economic Forum, more than 90% of plastic is never recycled, and 8 million metric tons of plastic waste are dumped into the oceans every year.
In the University of Newcastle study, large regional variations were discovered, with twice as much plastic found in the US or India than in European or Indonesian water.
Many species of fish intended for human consumption from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea, dine on microplastics, although only one or two microplastic particles have been detected per fish.
Besides the consumption of food and beverages, inhalation is another potential route of exposure, where microplastics can be deposited in the respiratory system, including the lungs.
Typically, synthetic textiles account for 35% of microplastics inhalation, car tires 28%, city dust 24%, road markings 7%, and marine coatings 3.7%.
Laundry and dishwasher pods, personal care products, plastic pellets, wet wipes, tea bags, cigarette butts, and household plastic waste account for the remaining 2.3%.
Plastics are made from a complex combination of chemicals, including additives that give them strength and flexibility. Both plastics and chemical additives can be toxic.
Analysis by the American Chemical Society has identified more than 10,000 unique chemicals used in plastics, of which more than 2,400 are of potential concern. Furthermore, this figure includes 901 chemicals that are not approved for use in food packaging in some jurisdictions.
But it's the implications of plastic ingestion by humans that is currently presenting a key challenge to scientists.
The overwhelming presence of plastic in our daily life is making it extremely difficult to isolate the effect of a specific exposure pathway from other
possible causes of exposure, points out the WWF.
For now, studies have shown that beyond a certain exposure level, inhalation of microplastics seem to produce mild inflammation of the respiratory tract.
For marine life, however, the outcome is very different. Higher concentrations of microplastics in their digestive and respiratory system can lead to early death.
Perhaps the best course of action may be to prevent plastics from entering the environment in the first place, urge scientists. That is something we could all take credit for.
Sources: (The Guardian) (CNN) (ResearchGate) (ScienceDirect) (World Economic Forum) (World Wildlife Fund) (NIH) (American Chemical Society)
See also: Easy ways to reduce your plastic use
Do we really ingest the amount of one credit card a week in microplastic?
How much plastic waste are we consuming in our food and beverages?
HEALTH Human body
Most of us are aware of the scourge of plastic pollution. Its impact on the environment and wildlife is well documented. But what is not so well known is the potential harm microplastics can have on the human body. Studies have shown that these small plastic pieces are accumulating in critical human organs including the brain, heart, and lungs. But how are these potentially dangerous microplastics being ingested, and does the rate of consumption really amount to the anecdotal claim of one credit card's worth of plastic every week?
Click through and lean more about how we are inadvertently eating and imbibing plastic waste.