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Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#81

Post by smsm42 »

mrob wrote: post #48
idDriven wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The article says a "microplastic particle" is any peice of plastic smaller than 5mm I double checked the article and you are right, this is why the use of the apothocary symbols are not used in medicine any more it should be "5 and 20 μm polystyrene micro-particles elicited somewhat similar pathological and physiological changes in mice. These, particularly the 5 μm micro-particles, could be detected in histologica…

Microplastics were found in bottled water, but I see no evidence that they actually came from the bottles, and I can't think of any mechanism that could cause particles to break off from the insides of the bottle under normal storage conditions. It seems more likely that they were already present in the water when the bottles were filled.

That should be not so hard to check - some companies bottle water both in plastic and glass, levels can be compared. Others use specific sorts of plastics, so one could check if the particles in their water match the chemical composition of bottle plastic or contain other plastics that are not part of the bottle. Also, many companies supply water coolers which use big bottles made of different kind of plastics than retail water - but likely the water itself, from the same company, comes from the same manufacturing process. The profile of these can be compared and one can see if the bottles are the likely source.

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#82

Post by darkpuma »

chrisco255 wrote: post #58
derp_dee_derp wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pickles come in glass jars. so does salsa. So does some types of juice. I'm not sure why you are concerned about this because it is obviously not a big problem.

It is a problem, especially in transportation and distribution of products. It costs more for glass. It's heavier, there's more loss from breakage, etc. There's a reason society went from using glass for every container to plastic. Plastics are convenient, resilient to drops, lightweight, flexible, and easier to form in various shapes.

> "There's a reason society went from using glass for every container to plastic."

We didn't though. Glass is still the standard packaging for a wide range of products.

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#83

Post by chrisco255 »

darkpuma wrote: post #82
chrisco255 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a problem, especially in transportation and distribution of products. It costs more for glass. It's heavier, there's more loss from breakage, etc. There's a reason society went from using glass for every container to plastic. Plastics are convenient, resilient to drops, lightweight, flexible, and easier to form in various shapes.

> "There's a reason society went from using glass for every container to plastic." We didn't though. Glass is still the standard packaging for a wide range of products.

Relatively few. Have you walked into a supermarket since 1952?

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#84

Post by chrisco255 »

aliteralrobot wrote: post #73
chrisco255 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastics are not so abundant in the oceans or soils to support some kind of biological takeover, assuming such microbes could evolve. This is sensationalist speculation. https://vinylverified.com/blog/2019/5/17/vinyl-verified-resp...

This article doesn’t provide evidence for your claim that plastics are not so abundant in the oceans, it only points out that a specific study that relied on a false premise (that PVC is a high percentage or is well-represented in ocean plastics) is flawed. It makes almost no mention of the abundance of actual ocean plastics. Did you link the wrong article or something?

You're the one with the extraordinary claim so you should be providing extraordinary evidence.

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#85

Post by chrisco255 »

ddebernardy wrote: post #76
chrisco255 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have sources?

You'll find some good links here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/toxic-chemic... The entire series is a good read, too: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/toxic-america

The Guardian is an online news site (with all the sensationalism that entails), not a serious scientific publication.

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#86

Post by darkpuma »

chrisco255 wrote: post #83
darkpuma wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "There's a reason society went from using glass for every container to plastic." We didn't though. Glass is still the standard packaging for a wide range of products.

Relatively few. Have you walked into a supermarket since 1952?

I have. There are a ton glass packages in my fridge and pantry right now that came from grocery stores. Maybe keep your eyes peeled next time you go to the store and look for yourself.

Mustard, olives, oil, beer!, pickles, apple sauce, cocktail sauce, salsa, spaghetti sauce, mayonnaise, anchovies, archichoke hearts, various ground spices, balsamic vinegar salad dressing, and much much more. That's just a small sampling of the glass packaged foods I've bought from the grocery store in 2019.

If glass is such a logistics nightmare, then why is the pickle industry still using it? Because it actually not a logistics nightmare. It weights a bit more, and it's a bit more fragile, but neither are a serious enough factor to actually remove glass containers from the market. Beer you might say is a high margin item, except there are a lot of really cheap beers that come in glass. My six-pack of coors light is not exactly a $20 bespoke hyper-IPA west coast microbrew, you know what I mean? It's in the same price (and class) range as a six-pack of Al-canned rolling rock. Also my glass jar of pickles were the dirt cheap generic brand pickles.

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#87

Post by Steel_Phoenix »

dahfizz wrote: post #13

Do we know much about the impact this has on our bodies? This is certainly something to be concerned about, but without that context it's hard to know what this really means. The article says a "microplastic particle" is any peice of plastic smaller than 5mm. That's bigger than some pills - I would definitely notice chewing on something that size. So how big are these really and what are they doing to me? For referen…

I always wonder more about the airborne stuff. Blankets, carpets, clothing, furniture. In a sun beam you can see all the little fibers floating around. I bet I inhale and swallow way more plastic every year than I eat, but I never see it mentioned.

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#88

Post by ddebernardy »

chrisco255 wrote: post #85
ddebernardy wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll find some good links here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/toxic-chemic... The entire series is a good read, too: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/toxic-america

The Guardian is an online news site (with all the sensationalism that entails), not a serious scientific publication.

The first article I linked to has links to the scientific sources.

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#89

Post by chrisco255 »

darkpuma wrote: post #86
chrisco255 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relatively few. Have you walked into a supermarket since 1952?

I have. There are a ton glass packages in my fridge and pantry right now that came from grocery stores. Maybe keep your eyes peeled next time you go to the store and look for yourself. Mustard, olives, oil, beer! , pickles, apple sauce, cocktail sauce, salsa, spaghetti sauce, mayonnaise, anchovies, archichoke hearts, various ground spices, balsamic vinegar salad dressing, and much much more. That's just a small sampl…

We all know the drawbacks of putting viscous fluids like ketchup in glass. Yes it's possible. Most salad dressings, sauces, sodas and juices, etc are served in plastic containers.

Plastic is more moldable than glass. It can be shrunk fitted to the object it contains, such as sliced cheese, sliced turkey, etc. It can be molded into odd shapes like a 6 pack of Apple sauce that is easily packed with a kid's lunch bag (and a parent need not worry about damage to the containers in transit).

Tons of benefits to using plastic. Glass is used with beer because glass is a worse insulator than plastic, so the container is as cold as the liquid inside. That's why consumers prefer it for beverages.

Re: Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

#90

Post by idDriven »

smsm42 wrote: post #80
idDriven wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The article says a "microplastic particle" is any peice of plastic smaller than 5mm I double checked the article and you are right, this is why the use of the apothocary symbols are not used in medicine any more it should be "5 and 20 μm polystyrene micro-particles elicited somewhat similar pathological and physiological changes in mice. These, particularly the 5 μm micro-particles, could be detected in histologica…

> Mice are not human but as this is a basic physiology issue it is very highly likely that they also bioaccumulate in humans That would be rather easy to check - take a bunch of dead humans who likely consumed a lot of bottled water (i.e. pretty much any urban dweller) and check them for microplastics in certain organs. Has this kind of research already been done and if not, why not? Also, "piece smaller than 5mm" ca…

Right? If you could just do a national sampling as part of routine autopsies or something it would give so much valuable data. Sadly there is a lot of politics and money even in scientific research now. I would really value this data, I don't know who would fund it though if not the government, likely not Nestle or a corporation with great sales of bottled water. Also please see my reply earlier in thread Smithsonian article shakes head in sadness said mm for particulate size when it should be 1000x smaller.
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