Millions of tons of plastic are produced every year and they are released into the environment in small particles. “We didn’t imagine 10 years ago that there could be so many tiny ‘microplastics’ that are invisible to the naked eye and they are everywhere around us,” says researcher Jean Francis Ghiglione at the Laboratory of Microbial Oceanography in France. We could not yet imagine finding them in the human body.’
A 2019 research by environmental charity WWAF International said that there is so much plastic pollution in our environment, due to which humans are inhaling about five grams of plastic every week, which would be equivalent to eating a credit card every week.
Ghiglione says that now scientists are engaged in a different kind of study. They are detecting ‘microplastics’ in some human organs, including the lungs, spleen, kidneys and even the uterus. Not only this, the microfiber present in synthetic clothes is entering our body through breath.
“We know there is ‘microplastic’ in the air and we also know that it is all around us,” says Laura Sadofsky from Hull York Medical School in England. His team found ‘polypropylene’ and ‘PET’ (polyethylene terephthalate) in lung tissue. “What was surprising to us was how deep it was in the lungs and the size of those particles,” he said.
Another research in March reported the first traces of PET in the blood. Given the small sample of investigators, some scientists said it was too early to draw conclusions, but there are concerns that if the plastic is in the bloodstream, it could be carried to all organs.
Everyday plastic is leaving billions of microscopic particles in the water. In 2021, researchers found microplastic in the placenta of an unborn child. Great concern was then expressed over its possible consequences in fetal development. ‘If you ask a scientist if there are any negative effects, he will say I don’t know,’ says Bart Koelman, Professor of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality at Wageningen University. “It’s potentially a big problem, but we don’t have scientific evidence to confirm positively what the effect is,” he said.
So while scientists have identified the presence of microplastics in the body, it is likely that humans have been eating, drinking, or inhaling tiny particles of plastic for years. Although health studies on humans have not yet been developed, toxicity in some animals reinforces concerns.