We’ve talked about it here before, so you probably already know that you, and your clients, are ingesting tiny pieces of plastic — called microplastics — on a regular basis. But what you really need to know is that scientists don’t understand completely yet just how the wide distribution of these microplastics affect human health, and our environment as a whole.
The widely used example is that we’re all eating roughly a credit card's worth of plastic every week, whether or not we intend to. That’s an overly simple visualization of the estimates we’re ingesting five grams of microplastics a week on average, and just intuitively sounds really unhealthy. It’s even scarier when you learn that those pieces of plastic can later show up in our lungs.
Initial investigations into microplastics exposure and human health have confirmed one thing for sure and that’s that plastic going in one end doesn’t necessarily come out the other. In at least some cases, scientists know that microplastics are absorbed into the bloodstream or trapped in the lungs. And there’s a catch: scientists don't yet know how that presence of microplastics in the body affects overall health, especially when compared to exposures to other environmental chemicals and contaminants.
Plastics never fully decompose, they just slowly break down into smaller and smaller pieces. It’s how microplastics are created, they end up getting so light they can be spread in the wind.
A couple of decades ago, we weren’t even thinking these particles measuring less than five millimeters across, about the size of a grain of rice. National Geographic best documented microplastics in virtually every environment in the world, from ocean floors to mountain peaks. It’s the culmination of studies aimed at locating microplastics and confirming human exposure from the past ten years or so.
“We urgently need to know more about the health impact of microplastics because they are everywhere, including in our drinking water,” Maria Neira, the director of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health, said in a Call To Action from the World Health Organization. “Based on the limited information we have, microplastics in drinking water don’t yet appear to pose a health risk at current levels. But we need to find out more. We also need to stop the rise in plastic pollution worldwide.”
"We can stop looking now," marine scientist Alice Horton, who studies microplastic pollution at the UK's National Oceanography Center, told Insider magazine. "We know wherever we look, we will find them."
Consider that more than 10,000 ingredients are used in the manufacturing of plastics. Public health experts have identified more than 2,400 unique chemicals used in that process, and more than 900 of those have been banned in some countries, according to a research analysis done in Switzerland. The studies that found microplastics in human lungs and blood didn’t consider how the presence might impact health, because those were the first to even confirm that presence in the first place.
Information like types of plastics, size of particles, how many, and where they are in the body, may help scientists study the potential health risks associated with ingesting or inhaling microplastics, environmental pollution experts told Popular Science. That information could lead to trials to study whether the plastic particles can block blood vessels or interfere with organ function.
The reality is that the definitive answer of how microplastics are harming us is still a long way down the road. A comparison of the damage from these tiny pieces of forever chemicals compared to other toxins will not come easily, or soon. In the meantime, the best answer for your clients and your family is the one we’ve talked about before: the only thing is to limit exposure as best as you can. But that’s a real challenge because plastic products have become so intertwined with our everyday activities. As Australian research scientist Denise Hardesty told National Geographic, it’s the "sheer number of chemicals we're exposed to in our daily lives." And the fact that we have a hard time living without them compounds the danger.
Jeff Jacobs has been an expert in building brands and brand stewardship for 40 years, working in commercial television, Hollywood film and home video, publishing, and promotional brand merchandise. He’s a staunch advocate of consumer product safety and has a deep passion and belief regarding the issues surrounding compliance and corporate social responsibility. He retired as executive director of Quality Certification Alliance, the only non-profit dedicated to helping suppliers provide safe and compliant promotional products. Before that, he was director of brand merchandise for Michelin. Connect with Jeff on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or read his latest musings on food, travel and social media on his personal blog jeffreypjacobs.com. Email jacobs.jeffreyp@gmail.com.