National Post (National Edition)
THE HIDDEN DANGER IN OUR FOOD AND DRINK
AS MICROPLASTICS ARE DISCOVERED IN HUMANS FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?
We have found them in our oceans and rivers; in the food we eat and water we drink. And now, courtesy of a team of Austrian scientists, we have discovered microplastics inside us.
According to new research from the Austrian Environment Agency and the University of Vienna, who analyzed the stool samples of people from eight different countries, microplastics have now moved to the very top of the food chain.
Although admittedly taken from a small sample size, the study published last week provides evidence of microplastics being detected in humans for the first time. Every single sample examined contained microplastic; in some cases, nine different types of plastic were found in just one sample. On average, the researchers discovered 20 microplastic particles per 10g of human waste. Presenting the findings at the annual United European Gastroenterology meeting, Dr. Philipp Schwabl said: “This is the first study of its kind and confirms what we have long suspected, that plastics ultimately reach the human gut”.
Confirming the presence of microplastics in our bodies has long been regarded by experts as inevitable. But what these tiny particles, which by definition must be less than 5mm in size, are actually doing to our bodies remains worryingly undocumented.
The fear is that their invasion into every aspect of our environment could be causing a raft of hitherto uninvestigated health and fertility problems. In short, as well as choking the environment around us, our addiction to plastic may prove our eventual undoing.
While the evidence for any effect on the human population remains scarce, experts fear the presence of microplastics in the body may damage the immune system, trigger inflammation and help carry toxins such as mercury or pesticides. Sadly, it is not as simple as making lifestyle changes like cutting fish from our diets, ditching cotton or switching from tap
to bottled water, as microplastics have permeated every aspect of modern life.
In sea mammals such as whales, it is believed plastics are damaging fertility. Microplastics have also been shown to reduce the fertility of other marine animals, including tiny crustaceans as well as populations of Pacific oysters.
“Absolutely it is worrying,” says Prof. Jamie Woodward from Manchester University’s department of geography, who earlier this year led a study on the prevalence of microplastics in rivers flowing into the city. “Plastics are everywhere and all pervasive. Some biologists have suggested they could make their way into the bloodstream and move around the body and also be a vector for transporting contaminants and other pollutants. We still need basic research on what the impacts will be.”
Globally, an estimated 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been created since mass production began in the 1950s, 80 per cent of which has accumulated in landfill or the natural environment, where it will take more than 1,000 years to degrade. Trillions of microplastics have already been found to show up in the oceans, fish, tap and bottled water and even table salt: scientists recently tested 39 different salt brands from 16 countries and found that 90 per cent contained microplastics.
There is a perceived risk of hormone problems from chemicals leaking out of the microplastics and into the body. Studies have sought to link endocrine-disrupting chemicals contained within plastics with an increase in testicular and breast cancer and a decrease in sperm counts, while microplastics have also been found to travel across a mother’s placenta.
Prof. Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, warned in her annual report this year of the potential dangers of humans ingesting microplastics — whether by inhaling them or eating contaminated food. “The human consequences of exposure to these microplastics are largely unquantified,” said Dame Sally. “It is unknown if microplastics ingestion translates into meaningful exposure in the population. Nevertheless, the burden in the environment should not be further increased.”
The obvious path for microplastics to reach humans is through fish. Yet two of the eight test subjects in the Austrian study that discovered microplastics in humans had not even consumed any fish during the week in which the research took place.
“I’m not really surprised,” says Alex Mcgoran, a marine biology researcher. “It’s only when you start working with microplastics you realize how abundant they are. There are so many sources of plastic. It’s in the air all around us and our synthetic clothing is constantly shedding fibres.”
Indeed such are the prevalence of microplastics in our environment that Prof. Richard Thompson of Plymouth University conducted a study that revealed a plate of wild mussels is more at risk of being contaminated by microplastic from household fibres than anything the shellfish ingested from the ocean. “I’ve been studying this for 20 years and we’ve certainly shown microplastics are present everywhere we have looked,” he says. “What is really needed is more information about low dose chronic exposures. There is really very little known about effect on humans at all. It is harder to look for in humans, but also harder to understand potential harm.”
Numerous health studies are ongoing into what the long-term health effects of our addiction to plastic may be, among them a study by the World Health Organization, which earlier this year launched a review into airborne plastic contamination of bottled water after microplastics were found in samples from nine countries across 11 different brands.
Scientists also remain concerned about the human health impacts of so-called nanoplastics, invisible particles into which microplastics eventually degrade. Alarmingly these tiny plastics can penetrate cells and move into tissues and organs. Although again, the research remains scant.
The fear is microplastics may prove the latest in a long line of examples of human constructs which at the time of development were deemed miraculous — before we realized they were killing us.
“This year we have seen a tipping point on plastics in the environment, politically, culturally and socially,” says Woodward. “I think those plastics have been there a long time but we are just discovering this now because somebody has decided to look.”
By the time we know just what damage it is doing to us, a deluge of more plastic will have flowed into our environment — and our bodies. And by then, it may be too late.