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Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

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Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#91

Post by blacksmith_tb »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #89
pibechorro wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that doomer is a waste of time. Time to be a prepper and realign our relationship to the planet. We could go on and on about climate doom, etc, but the most productive thing we can do is expect change, not apocalypse, and adjust. Lead by example. Everyone reading this can go full wind and solar. Can stop driving or drastically cut it down (move closer, use public transport, work remote, etc). We can all…

While I certainly agree that everything you've said about what an individual can do is true, I disagree that in the grand scheme of things that it will make any difference at global scale. Telling people to change their lifestyle to fight climate change is the environmental equivalent of telling people to diet and exercise to lose weight. On one hand, it's obviously true, but on the other hand we have decades and dec…

That all sounds accurate enough. I would say you won't get PV on everyone's roofs without some major subsidies and/or tax-breaks; or, I suppose, if natural gas prices increased enormously... But any or all of those could come about, without even a huge amount of political consensus, I would think. I was lucky enough to buy a new home that the builders had added solar to, so it was just part of the mortgage for me, but cost of retrofitting is still not negligible (even though the hardware is cheaper all the time, the labor isn't)

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#92

Post by giantg2 »

scotty79 wrote: post #78
giantg2 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sources?

There's nothing specific about it being plastic. Detection methods are the same. https://academic.oup.com/intqhc/article/33/2/mzab091/6295061 "Any glass participles smaller than 20 µm were marked by the examiner as ‘sandy particles’ and not precisely measured." People don't research that subject a lot because it's known that small 'sandy particles' in the body are not causing problems. But that doesn't mean they are…

So nothing about particles on the beach, silicosis, and your claim that we inhale them at a measurable rate?

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#93

Post by chrismeller »

funstuff007 wrote: post #11
decasteve wrote: post #9

Clothing is mostly plastic fibre nowadays. Upholstery fibres too. Walls are painted with acrylic paint. Flooring is often made of various plastics. I assume the dust in our homes that we breathe in contains relatively a lot of plastic. Containers for food are almost entirely plastic. I’m interested in these sorts of studies on the topic.

> Clothing is mostly plastic fibre nowadays. I think that's true primarily for athleisure. That being said, it's a very large segment of the market. I was recently in Banana Republic and it was quite hard to find a pair of pants one would want to wear outside of the house. Some what related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU55auqDD28

Which annoys me as well… yoga pants aren’t meant to be normal attire.

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#94

Post by collegeburner »

svnt wrote: post #46
collegeburner wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is ridiculous. You are expecting people to take aassive downgrade in standard of living. I spend years working to make more money than everybody so I can live better, not worse. And you are wrong, my kids will live much better as well, because I will pass on that money.

You need a global frame of reference to solve a global problem. You can get one on your own terms, or wait and be domesticated by legislation.

Believe it or not, most Americans won't vote to substantially reduce their own standard of living. Maybe other people's, but not theirs.

> be domesticated

Fuck that. That's possibly the most condescending and demeaning way you could have phrased it. But I'm assuming you knew that and did it intentionally.

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#95

Post by chrismeller »

decasteve wrote: post #9

Clothing is mostly plastic fibre nowadays. Upholstery fibres too. Walls are painted with acrylic paint. Flooring is often made of various plastics. I assume the dust in our homes that we breathe in contains relatively a lot of plastic. Containers for food are almost entirely plastic. I’m interested in these sorts of studies on the topic.

I’m sorry, but where is it mostly plastic? Sure I can buy a completely polyester T-shirt, but that doesn’t mean it’s mostly plastic.

And for the record, in the EU, it lists the contents of shell/lining differently for things like coats. If you’re buying anything with elastic it’s obvious where the 5% of non-natural materials are, even if it’s not broken out separately.

Plastic containers are also increasingly non-existent here. Vegeware has been used here for years for takeout, and most people use glass containers at home.

Ironically a company just started that sells reusable plastic containers to restaurants and you pay a €1 deposit on each one, which you can then return to some collection point just like your recycling. Seems stupid to me, given the climate impact of producing the plastic (and the inevitable amount of waste involved) and then transporting it to a collection point, but whatever.

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#96

Post by b215826 »

stjohnswarts wrote: post #61
nargella wrote: post #22

Toothpaste blows my mind. It’s literally plastic in some baking soda type substance. Extra whitening? Larger plastic.

no it's not, it's fluoride and some soapy binders like SLS and ceramics or baking soda for whitening/cleaning. I suppose some of the tube might break off and form these microplastics, however I don't know too many people swallowing their toothpaste leftovers. It's a bad idea as you shouldn't ingest that much fluoride, which is much more highly concentrated than fluroide in water. If you're talking about microbeads th…

There are toothpastes that contain plastic microbeads [1][2] and an FDA ban (for [1]: https://www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/brushing-and-floss...

[2]: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/05 /microbeads-exfoliators-plastic-face-scrub-toothpaste/

[3]: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gum-balls/

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#97

Post by b215826 »

But wasn't MPs detected in human placenta before? [1]

> In total, 12 microplastic fragments (ranging from 5 to 10 μm in size), with spheric or irregular shape were found in 4 placentas (5 in the fetal side, 4 in the maternal side and 3 in the chorioamniotic membranes); all microplastics particles were characterized in terms of morphology and chemical composition. All of them were pigmented; three were identified as stained polypropylene a thermoplastic polymer, while for the other nine it was possible to identify only the pigments, which were all used for man-made coatings, paints, adhesives, plasters, finger paints, polymers and cosmetics and personal care products.

[1]: https://files.catbox.moe/023yyt.pdf

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#98

Post by collegeburner »

sjmm1989 wrote: post #64
collegeburner wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is ridiculous. You are expecting people to take aassive downgrade in standard of living. I spend years working to make more money than everybody so I can live better, not worse. And you are wrong, my kids will live much better as well, because I will pass on that money.

You seem to have 'standard' and 'quality' conflated in regards to 'living'. Standards of living are always increasing because of people's incorrect belief that everyone must live like a king. Quality of living or life as it were, is more about making sure that whatever standard you live at is providing the best quality it can offer for that life. You are seeking a higher 'quality' of life, through increasing your sta…

So you are saying maximize quality of life at a given standard of living? Fine, but the maximum quality of life at a higher standard is greater than the maximum quality of life at a lower standard. Are you disputing that? There's also that achieving maximum quality of life at a given standard is hard, increasing standard of living can actually be easier.

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#99

Post by stjohnswarts »

throwoutway wrote: post #65
stjohnswarts wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what? They draw blood with needles and use little glass thingies to hold it. They aren't going to draw a liter of blood to check it for plastic, they just need a small sample. There might be some plastic involved somewhere but they aren't stupid enough to not control that. I mean there scientists. If you thought of it they thought of that and a dozen more things to be careful about.

I was wrong sorry. I was thinking of a different medical experience with lots of tubes I had, and donating blood. I guess I havent done just a tube & glass thingy

Unfortunately the vampires draw 3 or 4 test tubes of it every year from me for my annual checkup. At least my doctor is thorough with the tests :)

Re: Scientists find microplastics in blood for first time

#100

Post by scotty79 »

giantg2 wrote: post #92
scotty79 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing specific about it being plastic. Detection methods are the same. https://academic.oup.com/intqhc/article/33/2/mzab091/6295061 "Any glass participles smaller than 20 µm were marked by the examiner as ‘sandy particles’ and not precisely measured." People don't research that subject a lot because it's known that small 'sandy particles' in the body are not causing problems. But that doesn't mean they are…

So nothing about particles on the beach, silicosis, and your claim that we inhale them at a measurable rate?

Yes. Because finding 'sandy particles' in the body is common and expected to the point that nobody cares about them if you don't have any symptoms.
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