Research on the environmental and human health hazards of microplastics has been increasing in recent years, and workers exposed to higher concentrations of microplastics have previously been reported to suffer from respiratory distress after inhaling microplastic fibers and particles.
Do air microplastics have any impact on human health?
Toxicity studies of microplastics: damage to liver, brain nerves, immune disruption, fertility effects.
90% of edible salt contains microplastics?
A recent study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology showed that 90% of commercially available salt contains microplastics.
The study was jointly published by Greenpeace East Asia and Korean researchers. The researchers collected a total of 39 brands of edible salt from 21 countries in Asia, Africa, South America, North America and Europe, only three of which were free of microplastic particles. The three types of microplastic-free salt are a refined sea salt from Taiwan, China, a refined mineral salt from mainland China and a coarse sea salt from France. Studies have shown that the average adult may eat 2,000 microplastic particles per year because of salt consumption. The amount of microplastics also varies significantly between regional brands of salt. Salt microplastic content is also higher in Asian regions where plastic pollution is more severe. The highest microplastic content was found in a table salt from Indonesia. According to a 2015 survey, Indonesia ranked second among the world's most plastic-contaminated countries.
The presence of microplastics in table salt, especially sea salt, has actually been proven for a long time. This study was to see just how widespread the distribution of microplastics is. Kim Seung-woo, a professor of marine science at Incheon University in South Korea who participated in the study, said, "The study proves that microplastics accumulated in the human body through marine products are directly related to plastic emissions in the area."
First confirmation! The human body has been contaminated with plastic!
At the European Gastroenterology Conference in Vienna, Austria, researchers reported the first detection of up to nine microplastics in human excreta, ranging from 50 to 500 microns in diameter (a human hair strand, roughly 100 microns in diameter). This study shows that plastic can reach the human gut. Although scientists need further research on what harm microplastics can do to the human body, they warn that the smallest microplastics can enter the blood, lymphatic system and even the liver, and microplastics in the intestines may also affect the immune response of the digestive system.
The study tested volunteers from eight countries. They came from Austria, Italy, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia and the United Kingdom and included three men and five women between the ages of 33 and 65.
Each volunteer kept a diary of their diet one week before donating the feces. They placed the feces in glass bottles, packed them in biohazard bags, and sent them in cardboard boxes labeled "Class B Biomass" to the Austrian Environmental Agency for analysis.
Philipp Schwab, a gastroenterologist at the Medical University of Vienna, led the study by e-mail. The results surprised him: microplastic components were detected in every stool sample.
The plastics involved were: polyethylene (the main component of plastic bags), polypropylene (the main component of plastic bottle caps), and polyvinyl chloride (or PVC, the main component of plastic pipes). Of the ten plastics tested by the researchers, nine were detected in humans.
Researchers found 20 plastic particles for every 10 grams of feces.
The dietary diaries indicated that all volunteers were not vegetarians. Six had consumed fish in the week prior to sample collection. All subjects had consumed food in plastic packaging and had used plastic bottles for drinking water.
The mussels that people love to eat are also the worst hit by microplastics. Clothes made of man-made fibers may have allowed plastic particles to enter the water cycle while tumbling in the washing machine. Facial cleansers and body washes that contain soft beads unknowingly let plastic into the sewer.
Every year, an estimated 1.15 million to 2.41 million tons of garbage, enters the sea with rivers. Half of this trash, which is less dense than seawater, can float on the surface. These garbage are also usually plastics, which do not degrade easily. They will gradually break down into smaller microplastics under the combined action of sunlight, seawater, and marine life.
Marine life suffers from it. From plankton to cetaceans, scientists have found microplastics in more than 114 species of marine life. More than half of these organisms end up on the human dinner table. The notion that if you eat seafood you are eating plastic may be overstated, but it is not without merit.
In June this year, a study published by the University of Hull and Brunel University of London showed that microplastic particles were found in all mussels sold in the UK market. On average, for every 100 grams of mussels, there were 70 microplastic particles. Moreover, wild mussels usually contain more microplastics than farmed mussels.
In studies on marine organisms, microplastic particles can cause reproductive system and liver damage. What about for humans?
There is no systematic set of studies that show how microplastics can be harmful to humans. However, experts believe that the process of microplastic ingestion by humans may be more direct. Microplastics seep into beverages (including purified water, beer, etc.) during the process of filling them; microfibers in the atmosphere can also fall into tap water reservoirs. The smallest microplastics can enter the bloodstream, the lymphatic system and even the liver, and microplastics in the intestine may also affect the immune response of the digestive system.
Humans can also inhale microfibers that fall from the air. Airborne particles are known to reside deep in the lungs, leading to a variety of diseases including cancer. There is also evidence that workers who work with nylon and polyester fibers are exposed to much higher levels of harmful fibers than the general population, and that their lungs become irritated and their lung capacity is reduced.
Microplastics are everywhere. What should we do?
Microplastics have been increasingly alarming to humans. For their presence can be found even as far away as the Antarctic.
In January this year, the Chinese research team in the Antarctic Powell Basin through the ship's pump, to obtain 500 liters of surface seawater, by filtering seawater to form a filter membrane. The researchers observed the membrane through a microscope and found that there were five or six microplastics smaller than 0.3 mm on the membrane, the more obvious of which were the thin blue fiber lines in the center of the membrane with a density slightly higher than the oceanic average. The scientific team estimated that these microplastics are likely to be fibrous plastic cords.
In early September, the international research team "Ocean Cleanup Project", with a cleanup machine, from San Francisco to the sea, has been in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" test deployment. The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is between California and Hawaii, covering an area of about 1.6 million square kilometers, with 80,000 tons of plastic garbage floating around.
"The Ocean Cleanup Project's cleanup machine is a 600-meter-long floating object that uses the speed difference between buoyancy and the push of wind and waves to make trash "fall into its own net. If the test is successful, the organization plans to produce 60 cleaning machines by 2020. These machines are said to be able to clean up more than half of the garbage in the Pacific Ocean within five years.
Skeptics say the bright and shiny plan diverts attention - the cleanup machines can only collect plastic trash floating on the surface, which accounts for only 3 percent of the ocean's plastic pollutants. Much more plastic trash sinks or is eaten by fish. And what can be done with the recycled plastic waste? Most plastic is single-use and has very low reuse rates. What people should be aware of is that plastic comes from the shore.
What can ordinary people do?
A popular trend this year - ditch the plastic straw. Although straws account for 0.025% of plastic pollution (source: National Geographic website), it has not stopped it from becoming a thorn in the side of environmental groups. In July, Starbucks announced it would phase out the use of plastic straws in 30,000 stores over two years. Subsequently, McDonald's also responded to this call, decided to ban plastic straws in the United Kingdom and Ireland by 2019.
The small plastic straw may also embody the epitome of human relationship with plastic - it is not necessary, but people just like to use it. In some European and American restaurants and hotels, businesses have introduced bamboo straws and even pasta as straws. Obviously, none of them work as well as plastic straws.
