Microplastics found in every human placenta tested in study

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Microplastics found in every human placenta tested in study
theguardian.com

Scientists express concern over health impacts, with another study finding particles in arteries

Microplastics have been found in every human placenta tested in a study, leaving the researchers worried about the potential health impacts on developing foetuses.

The scientists analysed 62 placental tissue samples and found the most common plastic detected was polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles. A second study revealed microplastics in all 17 human arteries tested and suggested the particles may be linked to clogging of the blood vessels.

Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory. The particles could lodge in tissue and cause inflammation, as air pollution particles do, or chemicals in the plastics could cause harm.

Huge amounts of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and microplastics have polluted the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People are known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in, and they have been found in the faeces of babies and adults.

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What the article doesn't explain is that this is a good trade off. Even though we have microplastics in our bodies in return we're creating a ton of value for share holders.

It is crazy that it has become this much of a problem and it feels like it is on almost no one's radar. Is this even reversible at this point? I assume not, but that it can definitely get worse.

Unless we can somehow develop microbes or bacteria that can safely consume and remove these plastics within our bodies, this is forever

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So will microplastics be the new leaded gasoline? Turning every kid into an idiot or an asshole or both?

Probably just lots of cancers faster.

The real thing to watch for is if cancer rates just occur closer to retirement age anyways. Cause that could boost the economy.

Yup and we already see more colon cancer in young adults which makes sense if we’re eating microplastics. Obviously there’s a lot more that goes into it, but microplastics surely aren’t helping

Is there actual data saying that it increases cancer risk? Everything I'm finding says that we have no studies (or enough data) to say what the health impacts actually are.

Edit: I see some of the sources listed further down. Going through them.

One thing I did find while searching - plastics in bottled water are 20x higher than tap water. Yet another reason to quit buying so many damn plastic bottles

Car tires are a major source of microplastics, making up 28% of the microplastics found in the ocean.

So yeah, cars fucking us over again. It seems to correlate to cancer and IBS, so not as much making us in to boomers more just killing us and making our lives less pleasant. Thanks again auto industry.

Turning? Not sure if you've been paying attention, but kids these days can't even read.

That would be due to underfunded public schools and making Teaching jobs pay part time wages.

And ipads in every kids hand, given by inattentive parents, actively robbing them of "developing literacy" time.

Kids are supposed to be able to read prior to coming to elementary school. It's expected, with minimal classroom time, by 1st grade, they're reading full blown books. That's fallen by the wayside.

"Kids are dumb because iPads, they should be reading instead."

Ah yes, sorry I forgot you cannot read anything on an iPad. Ever since Apple outlawed reading back in 1997, we've been on a downhill slide to unga bunga caveman times.

I see your point, an iPad is a tool like any other, but FWIW, I ain’t never seen a little kid read on an iPad for fun. Arguably a parenting problem, but also kids games are juiced to the max.

Can't blame the technology itself for the lack of oversight from parents. Put a lock on the games, limit play time, or better yet give your kids a monthly allowance for an e-reader app. Make them excited to read.

Why can't you blame the technology as well? It's quite literally designed to be a trivial but addicting experience. Good parents can obviously circumvent the issue, but on a societal level it's inevitable that millions of kids end up glued to electronic devices at a critical time when they should be developing other skills.

you ever seen a kid read a book when they have YouTube or TikTok as options

Sounds like the parental controls aren't being used properly, more than it being the fault of technology.