Studies show microplastics can cross placental and brain barriers. Skipping plastic bottles and toys, choosing natural fabrics over synthetic ones, using washing bags and dusting can help limit exposure.
Plastic. It’s ubiquitous. From mountain tops to ocean depths, it’s a part of our everyday lives. Plastic pollution is so widespread now that scientists are dubbing this period in history the “Plasticene Age.”
One of the most versatile, well used and persistent substances that exist on earth, it generally isn’t biodegradable. As it breaks down in the environment it gets smaller and smaller until it infiltrates just about everything in the form of micro- and nano-sized particles.
They’re everywhere. In the air, water, seas, human bodies, dust, food, plants and animals. Finally, the subject of microplastics is hitting the headlines as awareness of the problem escalates.
Even water is packaged in plastic bottles. With billions of bottles of water produced and sold globally every year for people who can afford it, try and escape chlorine-, hormone- and too often, fluoride-laden tap water.
Globally consumption of bottled water is expected to reach 515 billion liters a year by 2027. But, is bottled water as safe as we think it is? A 2018 study found microplastics in 93% of the bottled water tested.
Researchers recently reported the presence of around 240,000 tiny pieces of microplastics in a 1-liter bottle of water. This is 10 to 100 times more than previous studies, which focused on larger particles of plastic.
Particles of seven of the most commonly used plastics were found along with millions of other particles of unknown origin. (more...)
The Microplastic Invasion: 12 Ways to Minimize Your Exposure
Related:
Alarming Levels of Microplastics Discovered in Human Brain Tissue, Linked to Dementia
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