The Chilling Truth About Microplastics

Microplastics (plastics that are less than five millimeters in length) have been a detrimental issue for the environment and marine life for the last 20 years, but new reports have shown the first detection of microplastics in humans. These plastic particles make their way into the human food chain from packaging waste, entering the body through sea salt, seafood and even drinking water. Recent research suggests that humans consume about five grams of microplastics every week. The impact on health is yet unknown.

Microplastics in Human Blood

In a new study, scientists detected microplastic pollution in human blood for the first time in almost 80% of people tested. The scientists analyzed blood samples from 22 anonymous donors, all healthy adults and found plastic particles in 17. Half the samples contained PET plastic, which is commonly used in drinks bottles, while a third contained polystyrene, used for packaging food and other products. A quarter of the blood samples contained polyethylene, from which plastic carrier bags are made.

Microplastics in Human Lungs

Researchers used tissue samples taken from different lung areas after surgical procedures of 11 study participants at Castle Hill Hospital and Hull University Teaching Hospitals. 45% of the study participants were female, with an average age of 63 years. Researchers discovered microplastics in all the regions of the lung. They identified 39 microplastics in 11 of the 13 lung tissue samples, with an average of 3 microplastics per sample.

Airborne Microplastics in the Environment

GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel conducted a new study which found that up to 27.5 million tons of microplastics are carried to different parts of the world every year. According to the studies, wind carries the particles through ocean air, fog, sea spray, and snow at a faster rate than water. Researchers explain the impact of wind-borne microplastics on surface climate and the health of local ecosystems citing the dark microplastics that cover snow and ice. The increasing amount of microplastic reduces the solar reflectance of snow, leading to an increased rate of melting.

What do these findings mean in terms of harm?

Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association’s says the science is too unclear to draw conclusions. “Are the plastics just simply there and inert or are they going to lead to an immune response by the body that will lead to scarring, fibrosis, or cancer? We know these microplastics are all over the place. We don’t know whether the presence in the body leads to a problem. Duration is very important. How long you are exposed matters.”

He says the most relevant analogy may be the decades-long effort to convince the government that smoking causes cancer. “By the time we got enough evidence to lead to policy change, the cat was out of the bag,” he says. “I can see plastics being the same thing. Will we find out in 40 years that microplastics in the lungs led to premature aging of the lung or to emphysema? We don’t know that. In the meantime, can we make plastics safer?”

The truth is in the numbers. Microplastics stand to be a huge threat to us for the foreseeable future, until government and mass-market corporations start to make big changes. While we know there is much work to be done, BioNatur is leading the way with truly biodegradable plastic in a landfill environment.

BioNatur Plastics are a growing line of biodegradable plastic products manufactured with an organic, food-safe, proprietary additive. Our organic enzyme attracts naturally occurring anaerobic bacteria in the landfill to digest the enzymes and break down the large plastic polymers into smaller organic molecules that the bacteria then recognize as food. They then digest these smaller organic molecules, and continue the process until the plastic is fully biodegraded, typically in 5-10 years. This is an important difference from “degradation,” where the plastic just breaks up into tiny pieces- microplastics. BioNatur Plastic is digested by the bacteria and truly biodegrades. Biodegradation of BioNatur plastic only occurs when it is placed in a landfill environment.

Last year, with the help of BioNatur biodegradable stretch film, Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) reduced their amount of plastic waste languishing in a landfill by the equivalent of 68 million plastic water bottles in just 12 months. Regular plastic can take 500 to 1,000 years to biodegrade in a landfill. BioNatur biodegradable plastics will biodegrade under landfill conditions in an average of 10 years. The most recent ASTM D5511 testing shows that our LDPE stretch film biodegraded 29.6% 660 days. In WFS’ case, in the past year, it has reduced the amount of standard non-biodegradable plastic going to landfill by 1,357,147 pounds.

Learn more about how you can make the change to BioNatur Plastics.