Scientists are generally very careful to say only what they know from documented experimentation – except physicists, of course, who live in a strange world made up largely of empty space populated with a few bits of matter and energy, the subjects of their wildest dreams and speculations.
Lab bench workers and field scientists, though, tend to limit their statements to what they find in their test tubes and ecosystems. That is why the recent sharp increase in micro- and nano-plastic research should concern us.
For nearly 20 years, field studies have been discovering miniscule plastic particles in almost every location on earth: Antarctic research stations, Arctic ice floes, deep oceanic trenches, every river and stream tested, even the water we drink. Seven years ago, oceanographers told us there were between 15 and 51 trillion of these microplastic particles in surface waters. They are present in the air, and in the dust from roads and fields.
If you wear, or have ever worn, a polyester garment, you have contributed to these massive numbers, as these clothes shed particles with every washing. Each of us eats or inhales anywhere from dozens to a hundred thousand particles per day. Infants, drinking formula from plastic bottles, may ingest this quantity tenfold – yes, that’s a million specks of plastic a day! Remember glass baby bottles? Not a bad idea.
An even more worrisome form of potential hazard is the nanoparticle, invisible except under a microscope, and defined as under a micron in size. These minute bits of plastic can enter our very cells, with deleterious results that we cannot yet fathom, but after two decades of finding them here, there, and everywhere, scientists are concentrating on discovering just how dangerous they might be to us.
Preliminary research has shown that hatchling sea turtles have so much plastic in their guts that they cannot get enough real food to survive. Rat intestines became inflamed, and mice had lower sperm counts and fewer pups when exposed to microplastics. You may believe that this is of no concern to human beings, but let me assure you, there is not as much difference between a mouse and a man as you would like to believe.
Zooplankton, the tiniest of sea creatures, grow more slowly and reproduce less successfully in the presence of microplastics. They also show more physical deformation. Since they form the very base of the oceanic food web, depleted zooplankton populations telegraph impacts on the food chain all the way up to the top predators, which are us. Fish are seriously at risk in 1.5% of the locations that have been studied.
This may seem like a very small percentage, but not every part of the ocean has been examined, and the volume of plastic particles is growing. The volume of discarded plastic is projected to rise from 188 million metric tons (in 2016) to 380 million by 2040, of which 10 million could be microplastics. This does not include the amount continuously sloughed off from existing plastic waste. When you find a soda bottle that is cloudy and opaque instead of clear, that means it has undergone some decomposition, and is already flaking off plastic bits to add to the growing total.
No study has directly examined the effects of these specks on people. In vitro studies cannot address these bodily effects, nor can they reproduce the diversity of microplastics in our environment, since they are done with only one plastic at a time. Furthermore, researchers don’t know how to extrapolate tissue effects to health issues in larger animals or people. Some studies in mice have shown that particles about five microns in size can stay in the intestine and/or reach the kidneys. Based on a few limited studies, scientists estimate that a person might accumulate several thousand particles in a lifetime. What might this mean? Does this accumulation constitute a real danger to us?
In addition to the polystyrene or polypropylene itself, manufacturers add plasticizers, stabilizers, and dyes to the products we buy, many of them proven to be hazardous. We don’t know how much of this chemical load remains in our tissues, and how much passes safely through, but lab rats around the world are addressing these and similar questions. The consensus seems to be that the situation is not quite yet dire, but the problem is growing. Proof of the danger is not absolute, but scientists are worried.
Until we have answers, we can adopt and scale up all the proven solutions to plastic waste accumulation – reusing, recycling, and using alternative materials. In this way, we could lower the amount of plastic waste to 140 million metric tons by 2040, which in turn would lower the tonnage of new micro- and nano-plastics.
By far, the most effective measure would be to ban single use plastics. It seems ridiculous to waste time and materials producing something that lasts for centuries, sickens our environment, and is used for 15 minutes.
Were I a robot, I would say “That does not compute.”
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