- Scientists found microplastics in every single placental tissue sample examined in a recent study
- The type of plastic used to make bags and bottles was the most common type found in the samples studied
- The findings come after another study linked microplastics to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke
Scientists have found microplastics in every single human placenta they tested in a recent study – warning of how plastic affects fetal development.
“If we see effects on placentas, then it could affect all mammalian life on this planet. That’s not good,” said Dr. Matthew Campen, Regents’ Professor in the University of New Mexico’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, who led the study, in a statement from the university.
For their research, Campen’s team examined 62 donated placentas and found microplastics in each sample.
Polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles, was the most common plastic, accounting for 54% of microplastics, the university said.
Stock photo of a newborn baby.
Getty
The report comes after a new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicinewhich linked nanoplasty to an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
“Patients in whom [microplastics and nanoplastics] were detected within the atheroma [a fatty substance in the artery walls] were at greater risk for the primary endpoint than those in whom these substances were not detected,” the study said, concluding that those with plastic heart tissue were at “higher risk of a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death. ”
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As the National Library of Medicine explains, “Microplastics (MP) are plastic particles less than 5 mm in diameter, while nanoplastics (NP) range in diameter from 1 to 100 or 1000 nm [nanometer].”
To put that size into perspective, one centimeter has 10 million nanometers.
“There is currently no scientific consensus on the potential health effects of nano- and microplastic particles. Therefore, media reports based on conjecture and speculation do nothing more than unnecessarily scare the public,” a spokesperson for the International Bottled Water Association, an industry association, told CNN.
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Photo of the plastic washed up on the beach.
Getty
In January, a group of scientists said they would stop drinking bottled water after their research showed that 1 liter contains a quarter of a million pieces of water.
Last August, microplastics were discovered in human heart tissue. And it’s been found that people inhale the equivalent of a credit card’s worth of microplastics per week, according to a June 2023 study published in US News and World Report.
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As Camden, who led the placenta study, said in a university statement, “It’s just getting worse, and the trajectory is to double every 10 to 15 years. So even if we stopped it today, in 2050 there will be three times more plastic in the background than there is now. And we will not stop it today.”
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Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education