Is plastic in our food and water causing birth defects?

FEARS that plastic pollution of food, water and the environment can cause birth defects and other alarming health problems have been raised by academics.

Research has shown that human beings are consuming surprising amounts of microplastics through food, particularly seafood, and via bottled and tap water.

There is even good evidence that people are breathing in tiny microplastics that float unseen in the air.

Scientists say there are real concerns that these plastics carry harmful contaminants that pose a threat to health and the lives of the unborn.

However, they say, as yet, there is a lack of good research to understand what, if any, impact these microplastics have on the body once eaten. As a result they are calling for urgent action to carry out the necessary health studies.

Dr Heather Leslie, senior researcher at the Department of Environment and Health at VU University, Amsterdam, said: ‘The hazards of plastic particles for humans are slowly emerging from a number of studies. Plastic debris is a notorious marine issue, but it should now be recognised as a human health issue as well.’

Dr Susan Shaw, Professor of environmental health sciences at the State University of New York, said: ‘There is an urgent need to understand how toxic chemicals, plastics and global warming are affecting the environment and human health.’

The concerns are the inspiration for a powerful image of a tiny baby made from discarded plastic, which is seen inside a womb created from a plastic bag. The image comes from campaigners and academics at The Plastic Soup Foundation, who claim: ‘Plastic can cause cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, arthritis, impotency and even harm babies in the womb.’

Earlier this week, researchers from the University of Hull and Brunel, in London, revealed that all samples of mussels bought from leading supermarkets and pulled from the seas around the UK contained microplastics and debris. They suggested that eating just 100g of mussels could mean consuming 70 tiny pieces of debris, most of it plastic.

A research paper published by the Plastic Soup Foundation said: ‘Plastic has reached the deepest point in our oceans, the Mariana Trench; it has been found on the peaks of the Himalayas, at both poles, and everywhere in-between.

‘The intake of microplastics has been found in more than 100 species of marine biota, from zooplankton to mussels to seabirds and whales.

‘These small particles spread rapidly throughout organisms, moving up the food chain, through the air, and through the water. Ultimately, there is little that we know about how the plastic that surrounds us affects our bodies. More than anything, we have one question: what are the health consequences of all this plastic?’

The paper said substances added to plastic to make them durable, flexible or stable include endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

It says the World Health Organization associates these with disruption in fertility cycles and delayed or accelerated puberty in females, delayed neurodevelopment in children, immune disorders, and hormone-related cancers.

Studies on female mice have found that exposure to one of these EDCS, the chemical BPA, while they were in the womb, were linked to certain cancers.