Many of us have plastic dust flowing through our veins.
The results of the latest study looking for microplastic pollutants in human tissues shouldn't come as a surprise by now. Virtually no place on Earth is free of the polymer fog, after all, from the highest of mountains down to our most intimate organs.
Yet knowing it permeates our very blood brings a new awareness of just how much plastic waste has become an expanding ecological issue.
Researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Amsterdam University Medical Center analyzed blood samples taken from 22 healthy anonymous donors for traces of common synthetic polymers larger than 700 nanometers across.
After the team went to great lengths to keep their equipment free of contaminants and test for background levels of plastics, two different methods for identifying the chemical make-up and masses of particles uncovered evidence of several plastic species across 17 of the samples.
Though the exact combinations varied between samples, the microplastics included polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – commonly used in clothing and drink bottles – and polymers of styrene, often used in vehicle parts, carpets, and food containers.
On average, 1.6 micrograms of plastic material were measured for every milliliter of blood, with the highest concentration being just over 7 micrograms.
The researchers couldn't give a precise breakdown of the particle sizes due to the limitations of the testing methods. It's safe to presume, however, that smaller particles closer to the 700 nanometer limit of the analysis would be easier for the body to take in than larger particles exceeding 100 micrometers. READ MORE...
