Scientists express concern over health impacts, with another study finding particles in arteries
Scientists express concern over health impacts, with another study finding particles in arteries
Microplastics have been found in every human placenta tested in a study, leaving the researchers worried about the potential health impacts on developing foetuses.
The scientists analysed 62 placental tissue samples and found the most common plastic detected was polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles. A second study revealed microplastics in all 17 human arteries tested and suggested the particles may be linked to clogging of the blood vessels.
Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory. The particles could lodge in tissue and cause inflammation, as air pollution particles do, or chemicals in the plastics could cause harm.
Huge amounts of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and microplastics have polluted the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People are known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in, and they have been found in the faeces of babies and adults.
Yup and we already see more colon cancer in young adults which makes sense if we’re eating microplastics. Obviously there’s a lot more that goes into it, but microplastics surely aren’t helping
Is there actual data saying that it increases cancer risk? Everything I'm finding says that we have no studies (or enough data) to say what the health impacts actually are.
Edit: I see some of the sources listed further down. Going through them.
One thing I did find while searching - plastics in bottled water are 20x higher than tap water. Yet another reason to quit buying so many damn plastic bottles
Car tires are a major source of microplastics, making up 28% of the microplastics found in the ocean.
So yeah, cars fucking us over again. It seems to correlate to cancer and IBS, so not as much making us in to boomers more just killing us and making our lives less pleasant. Thanks again auto industry.