Plastic in your diet
Team of Austrian scientists makes worrying discovery of microplastics inside us
Many tiny pieces ‘hidden in food and drink’
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 analysed the stool samples of people from eight countries, microplastics have now moved to the 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 sample examined contained microplastic; in some cases, nine different types 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 – previous studies have calculated Europeans could be ingesting as many as 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic a year. 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 is scarce, experts fear the presence of microplastics in the body may damage the immune system, trigger inflammation, and can help carry toxins like 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 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 of 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. 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. We still need basic research on what the impact will be.”
The human gut is, of course, only the latest repository of microplastics to be confirmed. Globally, about 8.3bn tons of plastic has been created since mass production began in the 50s, 80% of which has accumulated in landfill or the natural environment, where it will take about 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 90% contained microplastics.
A study of Welsh rivers conducted by researchers from the University of Cardiff and published last month even discovered microplastics from polluted water making their way into flying insects.
Plastic comes in many forms and as it degrades can leak all manner of pigments, ultraviolet stabilisers, water repellents, flame retardants, stiffeners and softeners into the environment.
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, Britain’s chief medical officer, 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’s 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. Last month a team of researchers from the Natural History Museum and Royal Holloway University published a study that revealed more than a quarter of fish tested in the Thames Estuary had ingested microplastics – previous studies discovered higher amounts.
Yet two of the eight test subjects in the Austrian study that discovered microplastics in humans had not even consumed fish during the week the research took place.
“I’m not really surprised,” says Alex McGoran, a researcher who was part of the Thames project.
“It’s only when you start working with microplastics you realise 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.” –
This is the first study of its kind and confirms what we have long suspected
It’s in the air all around us. Our synthetic clothing constantly sheds fibres