Quick search shows that we knew about lead hazards as early as the 1920s/1930s, but it took until the 1970s to get regulation about lead paint and gas - hoping we don't repeat that in this case
There’s also no clear definition of microplastics that I’ve seen. Different plastics have different toxicitiy
not always an option and to some this entire concern could be considered a luxury.
Who are you trying to communicate this issue to and what solutions are there that they’d find reasonable until governments address it? If it’s simply “don’t buy plastic” then I understand that I’m out of bounds. Perhaps along with many others.
Nice looking page.
The contamination is so widespread and is in things you can't avoid (like the air) but I have made some lifestyle changes that I hope decrease my exposure at least a little bit. I:
- don't drink water out of plastic bottles
- don't use any plastic dishes at home
- switched from using tupperware for food storage to mason jars
- use bedding made from natural materials (mostly cotton)
- prefer clothing made from cotton as opposed to polyester (exception: some exercise clothing)
- don't eat meat (this was not because of concern about plastic, but I think it's helpful here too)
My family mocks me for this, but I also hold my breath when I clean the lint filter in the dryer, because that cloud of dust that shoots up is, I believe anyway, a whole pile of breathable microplastics.
It's not like there's zero data to inform the risk calculation.
No.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00405-8
(https://web.archive.org/web/20250211144614/https://www.natur... if you need)
Change to what?
It's not that we want to do humans trials. We do it because, apparently, it has been observed that it's unreasonable not to do it before applying something we observed in mice to humans.
I don't know what the most common sources of microplastic particles are, but the messaging needs to be such that people know we aren't getting rid of all plastics, just the stupid ones that are most responsible for potentially harming us. I think straws were banned because there was a video of a plastic straw stuck in sea turtle's nose, not because they're one of the top sources.
[1]: https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-footprint-pr-campaign-sh...
Plastic straws and caps attached to bottles - reason was that there are too many of them and people don’t behave properly and don't throw things in the trash and throw them on the ground where they are eaten by animals. At some British beach they counted >100 caps per 100 m (or something similar, it was a surprising number).
The fact that we haven't found the causal link yet is not proof that there isn't one. And a whole lot of correlation suggests that there is. Why should we not take this as yet another reason to regulate throwaway plastic?
Government is always on your side!
The science linking that to specific outcomes/harm is almost non existent from what I understand.
Edit: to those downvoting - I'm not downplaying anything here, I agree they're concerning and we should be worried - just stating the fact that as far as I know the research on outcomes is very inconclusive at this point.
And what defines a “microplastic”? There’s so many different types of plastics that all have different effects on the body
What’s really the health trade-off compared to having to monitor every tiny little thing
That's still the case.
>And what defines a “microplastic”? There’s so many different types of plastics that all have different effects on the body
It's not that hard to constrain it to synthetic organic polymers (aka plastics) that are small enough (smaller than 5.0 mm).
Even if there are some exceptions also considered plastics, this already covers 99% of the ones to worry about.
And the effects we worry about are from the presense of millions of hard synthetic micromaterials like that in the bloodstream, organs, and even the brain.
That's enough of a concern for the whole class, before we start to care about them "all having different effects on the body" (which is barely a given).
I'd say that there's sure a health benefit for continuing studies on microplastics. Even if they're difficult to conduct, it's probably a good idea to learn more aboht microplastics and health because, barring some new way to remove microplastics, it seems likely that the ambient concentration of them will only increase in the future.
this is very much not the same thing as "microplastics cause chronic illness", even though it's worded in a way that clearly wants to make you think that.
The discourse around microplastics is pretty wild. The sport is finding them in random places, often at parts-per-billion or parts-per-trillion levels that we don't really use to look for most other substances. And the implication is essentially "progress bad" or "consumerism bad". No clear evidence of human harm, no realistic policy prescriptions - so what do we expect to happen, exactly? This it not a case of corporate greed or deception.
Our bodies also contain a fair amount of sand. Probably at levels higher than parts-per-billion. Is it bad? Sometimes! Where does the precautionary principle lead us on that?
A principal concern is ingestion of microplastics via food packaging, utensils, cookware, etc. There are non-plastic substitutions available for many of these items, and a precautionary approach would be to regulate to require them, where it is economically feasible, until such time as the effects of microplastic ingestion are better understood.
The reason more microplastics in unhealthy tissue doesn't necessarily mean microplastics cause unhealthy tissue is that unhealthy tissue would be worse at removing substances irrespective of whether the substances cause the harm.
All microplastics out in the open will degrade to nanoplastics at some point, and those find it much easier to infiltrate the human body. They penetrate the blood-brain barrier.
This leads me to believe that it's literally impossible to avoid. The air/water supply must be getting more poluted by the minute with these things
[1] https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2025/an/d4an0137...
55x for BPA? It's pretty annoying how wide an umbrella term microplastics are.
On the other hand, as other commenters mention, a lot of the studies on microplastics are sloppily done and the conclusions are overreaching. These toxicology studies are certainly not up to the standard of the safety studies that are run on pharmaceuticals. The question is if they need to be in order for us to take action on microplastics. Personally, I think the risk/reward ratio is now clearly in favor of taking action on microplastics, even if I have some problems with the studies and I'm not as confident as the OP.
pashmini•1h ago