The placenta is, by definition, a new tissue; it grows from scratch during the nine months of pregnancy. So when the team of researchers discovered microplastics in the placenta, All human placentas Matthew Campen, a professor at the University of New Mexico and a researcher on the team, said they were a bit shocked when they collected the samples, but in retrospect, he thinks maybe they shouldn’t have been. The air we breatheThe water we drink, rain and snow Falling from the sky, The food we eatThey Dust In our house, paint On our walls cosmetics It’s in the medicine cabinet. Orthodontic appliances, Toothpaste Microplastics found on the toothbrush itself have been found in placenta studies. Human testicles And, as detailed in an as-yet-unpublished paper, in humans brain.
Scientists have been studying microplastics for 20 years. paper The term was first used in 2004 to study tiny nanoplastics that accumulate in organs. Meanwhile, human exposure to microplastics has been growing exponentially, with estimates that by 2040, the amount of plastic in the environment will reach 100 million tons. doubleMany studies now show that chemicals released from plastics (such as phthalates and bisphenols) cause a variety of health effects, including hormone disorders, developmental abnormalities and cancer. However, scientists know very little about how the plastic particles embedded in our organs and circulating through our bodies affect our health. blood That might be true.
But they’re wary: What we end up finding out about microplastics won’t be a good thing, says Sheela Satyanarayana, a physician at Seattle Children’s Research Institute who studies the effects of plastics on pregnancy outcomes and child health. It’s likely that, like the tiny particles in wildfire smoke, they’re irritants that can cause inflammation. New paper examines new evidence on microplasticsreleased today Scienceexpects that researchers will know more about the health effects of microplastics in five to 10 years. But that doesn’t mean the world should wait for more incriminating evidence to emerge, the paper’s lead author, Richard Thompson, a professor of marine biology at the University of Plymouth, told me. Animal models clearly show the potential for harm, and biologically speaking, humans aren’t that different from those animals, he said. “We can spend billions of dollars on experiments trying to understand the harm to humans,” he said. “But even if we could, we’d probably still have to solve the problem.”
But for now, in a world where plastic is so commonplace, individuals are left to manage their own relationship with it. Even reducing our exposure to it requires extensive scrutiny and often money. Avoiding plastic in our daily lives has become practically a luxury.
Recently, after the arduous task of finding a sofa that wasn’t covered in polymer “high performance” materials, I finally opted for one in leather. Leather is already much more expensive than the standard microfiber or polyester twill versions, and only later did I realize that the leather cushions, like most sofas, are made of polyurethane foam that kicks up microplastic dust every time I sit on them. There are sofas with plastic-free wool cushions, but they were outside my budget. UnderstoodI thought, I did my bestAnd yet, when I sit down I think about it sometimes.
This kind of reasoning applies to any household item. Purity is impossible, and doing things half-heartedly is better than nothing, but it also feels like a failure. And it’s all expensive. If a family is expecting a baby, and given what humanity is learning about the effects plastics can have on fetal and child development, they’d have to be relatively well-off to reasonably buy plastic-free baby products. An organic, plastic-free crib mattress can be had for $1,379; one made from polyester fibers and wrapped in vinyl costs $35. Or consider flooring. 95 percent Many modern carpets are made from synthetic materials, i.e. plastic, and tend to flake off. off Vinyl flooring is good because it is easier to keep clean than carpet, but vinyl is still plastic. Emit Contains harmful compounds Phthalates,it is have a finger in the pie For children development and Reproductive Satyanarayana told me that it has negative health effects and is linked to allergy symptoms such as asthma. In recent years, several major retailers have Provided Phthalate-free vinyl flooring options contain the problematic phthalates: Don’t worry too muchBut the least worrying option is to buy more expensive natural fiber carpet or install hardwood floors.
When Dr. Satyanarayana speaks to families he sees as a pediatrician, he tells them to avoid the big ones: Avoid plastic in the kitchen, preferably since ingestion is the main way microplastics get into the body; and suggest not eating food in plastic containers. (Babies can use stainless steel plates and cups, for example.) And especially don’t heat food in plastic, to avoid ingesting plasticizers, the chemicals added to plastic to make it soft and pliable. But another big one to avoid is highly processed foods, which can be contaminated with more microplastics just by going through more manufacturing steps in modern plastic-intensive factories. This is good advice, but it also costs money and time. Wooden tableware is more expensive than plastic tableware, which in turn costs more than glass containers. Avoiding processed foods means make Meals also take time, which is not a luxury for some families.
Satyanarayana acknowledged that following her own advice can be a struggle. “The regulatory system doesn’t take these chemicals into account, so the burden falls on the consumer,” she said. “That burden is really heavy. When you’re pregnant and you have so many things to think about, it’s a heavy burden.”
Instead of panicking, Campen advised me not to stress too much about microplastics. Stress also has health risks, she reminded me. And we live in a wall-to-wall plastic world, so as individuals we’re too ignorant to worry about things that are out of our control. “If you panic about it because you know what you know, you’ll go crazy pretty quickly,” she said.
Yet despite this lighthearted advice, Kampen admitted to being stressed about the systemic aspects of the plastic problem. “I’m more worried about the global problem than I am about my health,” he said. “We’re not in a position to change this exponentially growing problem, and that’s what stresses me out the most.” For now, only massive government intervention to limit plastic production can stem the tide, he and two other researchers I spoke to said. A nearly $1,400 crib mattress wouldn’t solve the problem, but it could, in theory, lower the concentration of these compounds in children’s blood. Satyanarayana thinks that eventually companies will catch up and cheaper plastic-free options will come to market, but it’ll be a slow process, and few materials will be able to compete with the rock-bottom prices of plastic polymers caused by the massive use of cheap oil and gas. And if scientists discover in a decade’s time that these microparticles have been a threat all along, many will wonder why no one did anything sooner. By that time, yet another generation will have been born into a world of polymers that have been wrapped in plastic since the womb.
