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Just steve's avatar
Just steve
Jan 24Edited

Plastic's the Staff of Life. Seems to be everywhere and in everything. When challenged with health, pollution concerns the industry promotes, the customer demands it. Like with most messaging today to dig deeper than the bumper sticker PR and ask - so just who is the customer who is demanding? Being a member of the general public, I can't think of a time when I demanded plastic for much if anything. Knowing more than a few other members of the general public I struggle to find even one conversation where regular folks were demanding plastics. Could it be the customer doing any demanding would be the Companies more so than the people buying the end product? The sodas, the processed foods, the mountains of throw away junk? Consumer Throw Away Junk adds to it all when so many things have such a short shelf life, short durability, also demanding evermore plastics used to make even more new shiny things to fill up the closets, ditches and landfills. The whole system with a never ending thirst for more oil.

Hard to do these days to say the least but, if at all possible ditch the short lived junk and Invest in quality, durable goods, whether plastic or not. Rediscover the habits of those many decades ago of use, reuse, repurpose. There is less to recycle because it becomes so wore out, it doesn't end up in a landfill.

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Guillermou's avatar
Guillermou
Jan 24

Microplastics contaminate almost every part of the environment, including the food chain. They can adsorb various chemicals and microorganisms onto their surface, thus increasing the pollution load. Because microplastics are relatively small, they are easily ingested and can negatively affect consumer health. Research in this area has progressed, and initial findings indicate that microplastics serve as a vehicle for the spread of toxic chemicals in the marine environment.

In addition to PCBs, organochlorine compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the insecticides DDT and HCH, heavy metals such as copper, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and chromium, and antibiotics can contaminate microplastics. Microplastics with adsorbed contaminants can pose a potential risk to marine organisms, especially when they enter the food chain through ingestion. The concentration of chemical contaminants on microplastics can be one hundred to one million times higher than in the surrounding water. The ingestion of microplastics containing microcontaminants adsorbed by aquatic animals is one way these toxic pollutants enter organisms.

In addition to air and water pollution, soil contamination is another potential source of microplastics in the food chain. Soil contamination by microplastics occurs through several routes. These include landfills, soil treatment, the use of sewage sludge for soil fertilization, irrigation with wastewater, the use of compost and organic fertilizers, mulch film remnants, tire wear, and atmospheric gradients.

Exposure to these microplastics leads to systemic exposure, whereas larger microplastics may only produce local effects on the immune system (e.g., intestinal inflammation).

Micro/nanoplastics (MP/NP) contribute to the development of neurodevelopmental and/or neurodegenerative risks. Nanoplastics pose a greater risk because their size allows them to more easily cross the placenta and the blood-brain barrier. The long-term effects of microplastics on the body can include the induction of oxidative stress through the production of reactive oxygen species during the inflammatory response, which can lead to cytotoxic effects. Ingestion of microplastics can disrupt energy balance, metabolism, and the immune system. When MP/NP are present in the brain, they can initiate a series of molecular or cellular reactions that can damage the blood-brain barrier, cause oxidative stress, trigger inflammatory responses, affect acetylcholinesterase activity, cause mitochondrial dysfunction, and alter the Autophagy.

Another risk associated with consuming microplastics in food is microbial association with their surface. The presence of various pathogenic species has been confirmed on the surface of microplastics, and seafood consumption increases human exposure to these microorganisms. Microplastics can release harmful chemicals into food, such as bisphenol A, PCBs, PAHs, chlorinated pesticides, BFRs, and antibiotics, which can subsequently have carcinogenic and mutagenic effects and act as endocrine disruptors. According to some studies, persistent organic pollutants consumed along with microplastics represent a negligible source of contamination for humans.

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/12/1349 (2022).---

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S138266892200206X (2022).---

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/362049/9789240054608-eng.pdf

(2022).---

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929139322002839 (2023).---

https://www.cell.com/heliyon/pdf/S2405-8440(23)00503-0.pdf (2023).----

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304389424006332 (2024).--

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