Microplastics
alarming for their implications, as they suggest that at least one source of substantially elevated risk of cardiovascular problems is something beyond anyone’s ability to control.
Finally, in a study that is scheduled for publication on April 5 in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, a group of medical researchers from several Chinese hospitals presented findings of the presence of microplastics in human gallstones, with higher concentrations found in younger cholelithiasis patients. Carrying out further testing on mice, the researchers also found that microplastics accelerated the formation of gallstones, which was not surprising given the indications from human patients, but two other discoveries came as a bit of a shock.
First, the researchers found that microplastics “exhibited strong affinity for cholesterol and formed cholesterol-microplastic heteroaggregates,” something which aligns with the findings of the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Second, the researchers also found that microplastic ingestion “altered the composition of the gut microbiota in mice fed a high-cholesterol diet.”
As in the previous study, there is still a question of exactly how this causes or aggravates disease, but it has been understood for decades that changing the delicate balance of biochemistry in one’s digestive system is not a good thing.
I suppose that what one takes away from the findings of these studies depends on one’s point of view. My point of view is not generally characterized by optimism or faith in humanity, and so the latest findings mostly just reinforce my awe at the destructive capabilities of mankind. The entire planet and every living thing on it are utterly saturated with plastic, which is all the more remarkable since the damned stuff only became available for widespread use in 1910. Even if we stopped producing and using all plastic this instant — an idea so utterly impossible it’s not even worth thinking about — the poison that is already in our environment and all of us will not go away, and will for all intents and purposes last forever.
We can cling to the pretense that “addressing the plastic problem” through reducing plastic use, recycling and trying to develop “more sustainable” forms of plastic such as the so-called biodegradable plastic (which actually produces more microplastics faster than other forms of plastic, and so is an objectively terrible idea) can have some positive outcomes, but the reality is the damage is already done. The poison has already been swallowed. How long it may take to actually kill us is uncertain; slowly, we might hope, but there’s no guarantee of that.
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In the interest of knowledge-sharing, for those who may wish to read the studies described above, you may find them online:
– “A Multicompartment Assessment of Microplastic Contamination in Semi-remote Boreal Lakes,” in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry at https://doi.org/10.1002/ etc.5832. This article is open-access, meaning you can read or download it in its entirety.
– “Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events,” in the New England Journal of Medicine at https://www. nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2309822. The full article is available only to subscribers.
– “Microplastics are detected in human gallstones and have the ability to form large cholesterol-microplastic hetero-aggregates,” in the Journal of Hazardous Materials at https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.13363. This is also a subscriber-only article, but a fairly detailed summary is nevertheless made available for free.