Courtesy TappWater
We all know about plastic pollution in our rivers and seas. But recent information reveals that it is much closer to home than you might think. Inside you, in fact. Like you have eaten a credit card every week. By James Teo.
“We lack the tools to accurately measure micro and nanoplastics in humans." - UV’s Lea Ann Dailey. Courtesy UV.
Vienna, April 2022. Almost 8.5 billion tonnes of plastic has been created on earth since it was first commercially synthesised and used back in the 1950s. Estimates put the majority of that in landfills now; over 6 billion tonnes of plastic is buried in holes in the ground – which leaves a spare couple of billion tonnes of plastic residues floating about somewhere in our environment. Exactly where is a bit vague.
“We currently lack the tools to measure and characterise micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs), both in the environment and in humans themselves," explains Prof. Lea Ann Dailey from the Pharmazeutische Technologie & Biopharmazie department of Universität Wien, Vienna (UV). “So we will use what is known as an atomic force microscope, linked to an infrared spectrometer to measure the (prevalence) more accurately.” This new technique allows researchers to establish the type and size of the organic or air sample. The news is not good; plastics have been detected inside most of us in recognisable quantities.
How much? - 5g per week, or the equivalent of eating a credit card.
Research published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials is quite shocking. It estimates that: “following the analysis of data from fifty-nine publications, an average mass for individual microplastics in the 0–1 mm size range was … estimated that globally on average, humans may ingest 0.1–5 g of microplastics weekly through various exposure pathways.” That’s a visible amount of plastic that you munch or drink down, every seven days. So now we are just starting to know where some of that extra billion or two of plastic nano-particles is going. It’s going into our lungs and guts.
Another study from VU Amsterdam suggests that when burnt, buried or thrown into our waterways, plastic waste breaks down into micro and nanoparticles that enter our food chain via seafood or groundwater into fruit and vegetables that we eat. Then get swallowed and enter our bloodstream.
“This (research) allows us to gain insight into how widespread plastic pollution is in the bodies of humans, and how harmful that may be,” said researcher Marja Lamoree, from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). They found near 75% of their sample had detectable plastic MNPs in their bloodstreams.
Then there are cosmetics, suncreams and lotions. They are full of MNPs. Deliberately manufactured MNPs, called microbeads, are used to help make cosmetics and creams smooth and silky feeling as well as long lasting on the skin. And lips. And hence into the human body.
The Plastic Soup Foundation (PSF) estimates the 90% of cosmetics (even toothpastes) sold across a high street near you contain deliberately produced MNPs. These particles find their way back to the human body by licking, rubbing or finger transference, and flush into our waterways after you wash your face or have a shower.
As of now, nobody is really sure what the knock-on effects of all this MNP plastic is doing to our bodies from both outside and inside, but it’s definitely there in increasing quantities. There is serious concern that the amount of microparticles currently being ingested and inhaled is not doing the human race any good.
"While we know that while plastics are not quite as irritating as, for example, mineral dust, they are very durable. We also know that plastic particles while are generally inert, i.e. not particularly reactive, at the same time they attract other molecules to their surface and that could increase allergies," says UV’s Dailey. Pathological links are already being established.
“Microplastic particles cannot be digested, so aggregates containing biomolecules and microplastics or nanoplastics can cause gastrointestinal dysmotility or obstruction,” says one paper published recently in Scientific Reports. “It is well known that (MNP) size is an important cytotoxicity parameter in-vitro.” Scary stuff.
Drink anybody? Not out of a plastic bottle or while wearing cosmetics …