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Dear Dot,
I know from news reports that human bodies are full of microplastics. But … how did they get there? How can I stop this from happening?
–Spencer K
The Short Answer: Microplastics are indeed in our bodies, our babies, our wildlife, as well as our air, water, and soil. But while it’s almost impossible to avoid plastic entirely (I, for one, am not saying no to a plastic life-saving medical device, for instance), we can — and should — reduce our reliance on it, while pushing our political leaders to come to a global agreement on regulating plastic production and use.
Dear Spencer K,
It almost defies reason that plastics have only been in wide circulation since about the middle of the last century. But join me as we take a quick walk through the history of plastic, courtesy of The Science History Institute, before we consider how plastic went from out there to, well, in here:
•1869: The first synthetic polymer is invented by John Wesley Hyatt as a substitute for ivory. Elephants might be plastic’s first fans.
•1907: Leo Baekeland invents Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic as a substitute for shellac.
•1935: Wallace Carothers invents nylon, as a substitute for silk, ensuring that Mad Men-era women can adhere to the office dress code even while being wildly underpaid.
By the time the Second World War is over, plastics have replaced a plethora of more natural materials in everything from parachutes to aircraft windows, and plastic production in the U.S. had exploded by 300%.
Quite the trajectory, isn’t it Spencer K?
Today, we can find plastic particles in the Mariana Trench, on top of Mount Everest, and in the brains, ovaries, testes, kidneys, livers, and bloodstreams of humans and other animals. In other words, there seems to be literally no place on Earth free of plastic.
Which suggests, Spencer K, that the genie is well out of the plastic bottle.
Plastic People documentarian Ziya Tong calls herself “a human landfill,” writing that “In my blood, in my lungs, and in my guts, there are tiny, invisible particles of plastic bags, medical waste, tire dust, synthetic clothing, and food packaging.”
But though plastic exists in our bodies, our babies, and just about everywhere else, it’s nonetheless worth considering how it made its way there, if only to figure out if we can reduce its prevalence, even slightly. After all, scientists don’t yet know conclusively what impact plastics have on us (or in what amounts they have an impact), but we’re starting to compile data. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that, “patients with carotid artery plaque in which MNPs (micro and nanoplastics) were detected had a higher risk of a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from any cause at 34 months of follow-up than those in whom MNPs were not detected.” (For instance, new research tells us that plastic particles in human brains have increased by 50% since 2017 and that dementia patients have 10 times higher levels of plastic in their brains than do others. Even seabirds are showing signs of dementia, thanks to their exposure to plastics, according to a research paper published in the journal Science Advances.)
It’s about accumulation, say the experts. And time. “The other reason the health risks will grow with time is because the older the particles are, the more toxic they can become,” reports The Guardian. “They can harbour pathogenic microbes and take on other pollutants such as heavy metals.”
Another story in The Guardian notes that, “The driver of the crisis is a huge acceleration of plastic production, which has increased by more than 200 times since 1950 and is set to almost triple again to more than a billion tonnes a year by 2060. While plastic has many important uses, the most rapid increase has been in the production of single-use plastics, such as drinks bottles and fast-food containers.”
How do plastics get into our bodies with such ease? A key reason is size. While some plastics start off tiny — think bits of plastic glitter or those microbeads in face scrubs — others become tiny when larger plastics break down. And what is both amazing and appalling about plastic is that it’s a forever kinda material. Put another way: Every piece of plastic ever produced still exists (though not necessarily in its original form).
While some plastics make their way unintentionally into our soil, our food, and our water, other microplastics (ranging from 1 to 5 millimeters) and nanoplastics (between 1 and 100 nanometers, which are billionths of meters) are put there on purpose, in such common commodities as in toothpaste, cosmetics, clothing, and furniture.
Proximity to plastics makes absorption of them more likely. Seafood, for instance, contains a lot of tiny plastics because our oceans and lakes contain a lot of tiny plastics.
And one reason for that is that there are a gajillion plastics on our roads, which get washed into waterways. Dot addressed this in her column about the impact of car tires.
Plastic in waterways comes from other sources, too, of course. Not only are all the plastics (bottles, toys, packaging) that end up in waterways breaking down into microplastics but Dot recently learned that a dishwasher full of plastic dishes releases 920,000 particles per load.
Our air also contains microplastics, shed from our clothes, our furniture, our bedding — anything made with synthetic fibers. And that, in turn, means that our soil contains microplastics, which means that our food also contains plastics: beef, chicken, milk, fruits, vegetables, honey, sugar, salt … microplastics have been discovered in basically anything that’s been studied.
So, yeah, Spencer K. Those news reports that our bodies are full of plastics are right on the money.
But the real source of this problem? Money. Fossil fuel companies have made a lot of money extracting the oil that becomes plastic. And, as they scan the horizon and see a growing market for electric vehicles that don’t require gas in their tanks to run, they are deeply invested in encouraging all of us to use more plastic.
They’ve also masterfully greenwashed the impact of all this plastic by touting the recyclability of it. In theory, it can be used over and over in different incarnations, though it degrades with the process, limiting how it might be used. But while it may be true that a plastic bottle can become a fleece jacket, and that a detergent jug can become a garbage bag, in point of fact, plastics recycling is a bit of a scam. Let’s consider for a start that we taxpayers are the ones paying for recycling, despite companies being the ones producing — and profiting from — the plastic. What’s more, recycling isn’t happening in the volume we need. Indeed, only about 9% of all the plastic ever produced has been recycled. The rest is languishing in landfills, or making its way into our waterways, soil, and air — and then us.
So, step number one in reducing the amount of plastics in us is … reducing the amount of plastics we use. It’s a simple solution but also a difficult one to implement. Plastic is cheap. And convenient.
What we need most is change at a societal level. As I write this, representatives from 175 countries are gathering in Geneva, Switzerland to hammer out the final installment of a global plastics treaty to address plastic pollution. The Story of Stuff has great explainers on this, as well as ways you can make your voice heard.
But that’s the macro level. At a micro level, reduce your exposure to plastic. If you can use an item not made of plastic — cutlery, for instance — then that’s what you should use. It is impossible to avoid plastic entirely. It’s simply too woven into our lives. But we can reduce it. Let’s look at how:
- In our kitchens: Avoid plastic packaging in favor of glass or aluminum where possible. Don’t drink from plastic water bottles, especially if they’ve been exposed to sunlight. The stuff that comes out of your tap is likely as potable — or more. If you want a water filter, which isn’t a bad idea, our Marketplace editor has a recommendation, although, irony alert, it’s made of plastic). Steer clear of plastic cutting boards. Ditch disposable dishes and cutlery in favor of items that have a long life. Store food in glass or metal containers, and definitely don’t reheat food in plastic. And stay away from processed food as much as possible, as it typically contains and is packaged in more plastic than fresh food.
- In the laundry room: While Dot loves laundry strips for their convenience, the reduced greenhouse gas emissions from transport, and the fact that they don’t come in big plastic bottles, a study revealed that even they aren’t perfect (what is? Dot asks with a sigh). Bluedot’s Marketplace editor is a big fan of Dirty Labs (which not only gets rave reviews for its cleaning ability, but also comes in metal bottles and cardboard packaging). But the clothes going into our washing machines matter too. Avoid polyester and nylon fabrics in favor of cotton, linen, wool, and viscose fabrics like rayon, which is made from natural ingredients like wood and bamboo.
- In the bathroom: Check the personal care products you use. Some exfoliating products and toothpastes contain microbeads, which are, often, plastic. (The U.S. and Europe have banned the use of plastic microbeads.)
- At the store: Avoid fruits and vegetables wrapped in plastic, and eschew plastic bags (include mesh produce bags along with your reusable ones).
- In the home: Vacuuming, particularly with a HEPA filter, is effective at sucking up not just microplastics but other teensy fibers that shed from carpets, drapes, and furniture, not to mention the lead, cadmium, and arsenic that we trek into our homes on our shoes.
But all the experts making these recommendations don’t want us to panic. And keep in mind that there’s little research that indicates reducing microplastics in your home meaningfully reduces the amount you’re ingesting, because, as we’ve noted, so much exists already in our air, soil, and food. Nonetheless, reducing our personal use of plastic is a form of protest and sends a message to manufacturers and our government leaders that we want less plastic in our lives. Do these kinds of consumer-driven actions work? Well … sometimes they do. Plastic straws, while still around, are less often the default option. And we’ve all grown used to taking reusable bags to the grocery store, thanks to legislation (demanded by folks like us) banning plastic grocery bags.
I wish the news were better, Spencer K. I wish I could give you some magic trick that would render you plastic-free. Alas, we’re all Barbie girls (metaphorically) living in a Barbie world. But I, for one, will never agree that, as the song goes, “life in plastic, it’s fantastic.”
Metally,
Dot
