Health probe into the poison plastic beads

Fears over contaminated food trigger inquiry by medical chief

THE effects of microbeads on human health will be investigated by the most senior medical adviser in the country.

experts are concerned that tonnes of the plastic beads used in cosmetic products are being flushed down plugholes and later eaten by fish and shellfish.

The contaminated marine life is then consumed by humans – with potentially dangerous effects on the body.

scientists fear that the beads contain harmful chemicals and may also be a magnet for pollutants in the sea.

environment secretary andrea Leadsom announced plans to ban the microplastics – which appear in products from face washes to toothpastes – earlier this year after the daily mail took up the issue with the ban the beads campaign.

Now ministers are taking an important further step by ordering research to establish the level of the risk posed to human health.

details of the inquiry emerged in the Government’s response to a report on plastic microbeads by mPs on the House of commons environmental audit committee (eac), which is published today.

News of the probe, which will be led by chief medical officer Professor dame sally davies, has been welcomed by mPs.

They said there was an absence of evidence about the nation’s dietary exposure to microplastics and more research ‘is clearly required’.

experts have estimated that around 680 tonnes of plastic microbeads are used in the UK alone every year. a single shower can result in up to 100,000 plastic particles entering the sewage system.

The torrent of microbeads pouring into the sea means that more than one in three fish caught by trawler in the english channel contained plastic particles, according to a british study.

it was also found that some 83 per cent of Norway lobsters, which are caught off the UK coast and are often sold as scampi, contained microplastic debris. The Government’s response to the committee reads: ‘over the next year the chief medical officer of the department of Health will be reviewing the effects on health of pollution of several kinds including microplastics.’

even the Government’s food and environment department, deFra, has said there is a problem. in evidence to the eac, it said: ‘several studies show that microplastics are present in seafood sold for human consumption, including mussels in North sea mussel farms and oysters from the atlantic. The presence of marine microplastics in seafood could pose a threat to food safety.

‘However, due to the complexity of estimating microplastic toxicity, estimations of the potential risks for human health posed by microplastics in foodstuffs is not yet possible.’

DEFRA has also announced that it will shortly be publishing a report on the potential harm that microplastics can cause in the marine environment, particularly sea life.

marine biologist dr Thomas maes, of the centre for environment, Fisheries and aquaculture science, said there is good evidence from medicine that microplastics can penetrate human tissue.

‘[doctors] use them as vectors for delivering medicines to those areas where they want them to be active,’ he said.

‘if it can transfer to certain tissues to deliver the medicine then it could also transfer to the tissues without the medicine, i would assume.’

Tamara Galloway, a professor of

‘Threat to food safety’

ecotoxicology at exeter University, said the effects on human health of microplastic pollution need to be researched ‘as a matter of urgency’.

Professor Galloway, one of the world’s foremost marine pollution experts, said: ‘We find tiny pieces of plastics and synthetic fibres in every sample of seawater we study from around the world.

‘We also find them in marine animals including mussels and crabs. despite this, we know nothing of the risks they pose to human health. based on current estimates, the level of human exposure is likely to be low, but most people would probably prefer not to be eating plastic with their seafood.

There is an urgent need for more research into the impact on human health of microplastics, as well as their impact on the environment.’