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What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

nautil.us

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Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#251

Post by jpindar »

thrwy_918 wrote: post #156
barbegal wrote: post #11

The actual study is here https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030438942... The study presents three scenarios assuming different assumptions about the mass of plastic particles. In the worst case scenario, where I think the assumptions are bad, they estimate 5g of plastic per week. In the other two scenarios which used more complex but more realistic modelling they estimate 0.15 and 0.3g of plastic cons…

>In these scenarios (0.15g and 0.3g) about 90% they estimate comes from salt. I know nothing about anything, but could salt be heat-treated to burn off plastic?

I think salt is heat-treated to dry it, but I don't know how hot it gets.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#252

Post by itsafetish »

stuckinhell wrote: post #223
twofornone wrote: post #105

>bisphenol A mimics the hormone estrogen and can lead to damage in sperm development.19 Further research has shown that microplastics, and not just those with bisphenol A, can cause damage to the testes and lead to the production of deformed sperm cells that have a harder time reaching eggs. I'd more interested in hearing what microdosing xenestrogens on a large scale does to our collective psychology. I think this i…

It could explain the rise of trans women too. It's honestly quite frightening to think we are unknowingly modifying ourselves at such a scale.

Maybe, though I think it's better explained by the widespread availability of pornography, and the power of the internet in reinforcing cult-like behaviour.

There's a huge amount of "forced feminization" pornography out there now, accessible by children at a very young age. As well as "lesbian" pornography designed for the male gaze. It's no wonder some males end up feeling they should be like the characters in the pornography they consume.

It's controversial to say this these days, but old school transwomen such as Anne Lawrence were very open about the sexually-charged nature of their dysphoria. (And she published extensively on this topic.)

On top of that, there are many trans-encouraging echo chambers in the form of online forums, subreddits, and Twitter - ready to help anyone even vaguely curious to "crack their egg", as they say.

Maybe environmental estrogens play some part in this rise, but I suspect it would only be a small piece of the larger puzzle.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#253

Post by mrguyorama »

refurb wrote: post #154
GekkePrutser wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and silicate is an environmental component that's well understood and our bodies have adapted to it because sand has been a thing forever. And glass is chemically inert.

Silicon dioxide (sand) causes silicosis if inhaled. I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the risk.

Isn't the damage caused physically, not chemically? I think that's the main point

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#254

Post by formerly_proven »

Karawebnetwork wrote: post #248
bb123 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s unexplained at all. People just don’t like the explanation. People simply eat too much and don’t move enough. The secondary reasons behind that are many but again pretty easy to see (more desk jobs, cheap high calorie foods, automobile ownership etc)

How does your theory explains > and is also affecting lab animals fed controlled diets ?

How does a lab animal with a controlled diet get obese? Thermodynamics suddenly not a thing?

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#255

Post by FuriouslyAdrift »

bb123 wrote: post #220
matthewdgreen wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s worrying about this is that we’re about 50 years into an unexplained epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease that nobody has a clear explanation for, and is also affecting lab animals fed controlled diets. It would be fascinating if this was all correlated with a common environmental contaminant, and the increasing use of various plastics could line up well.

I don’t think it’s unexplained at all. People just don’t like the explanation. People simply eat too much and don’t move enough. The secondary reasons behind that are many but again pretty easy to see (more desk jobs, cheap high calorie foods, automobile ownership etc)

There's the beginnings of research that artificial flavorings are short-circuiting our satiation response, too. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8479585/

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#256

Post by x3iv130f »

danShumway wrote: post #97

In a slightly different direction than consumption, if you're worried about inhaling plastic particles: I haven't personally gotten the equipment to do actual measurements yet, but I keep pet rats and they have pretty fragile respiratory systems, and anecdotally when I put together a Corsi Rosenthal Box[0] and stuck it next to their cage their allergies/sneezing pretty much entirely vanished. I still need to get air…

Consumer grade filters have nicer fans that let them push move more air with less noise. I have multiple in my house and it's amazing how quiet they are.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#257

Post by antisthenes »

zamfi wrote: post #237
john567 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This must be part of some disinformation effort to streer people away from the simple answer. Their conclusion is that you're helpless if your fat and that's just not true. The idea that this is not in your hands is ridiculous. If you are fat and you don't want to be fat you simply change your eating habits. This can be very difficult to do because you have formed these habits throughout your life but it isn't compli…

Obviously you [0] didn't read the article, but that is not their conclusion. There seems to be some kind of unfortunate "shame brigade" out on the Internet that comes out of the woodwork to overrun any conversation around obesity that even hints that there might be reasons for the obesity epidemic other than individual people's poor choices. The lab rats whose rate of obesity has increased over the last 30 years, des…

> This kind of comment should be ignored by anyone who values truth over consensus.

I hope you're talking about your own comment, because consensus is truth, for all practical purposes.

What's really toxic is taking a fringe theory and pretending it has equivalence and/or equal weight with scientific consensus, when it doesn't have even 1% of the rigor and reproducible evidence behind it. That kind of attitude is absolutely glorifying ignorance and is utterly toxic to actual progress.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#258

Post by Terry_Roll »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #122
barbegal wrote: post #11

The actual study is here https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030438942... The study presents three scenarios assuming different assumptions about the mass of plastic particles. In the worst case scenario, where I think the assumptions are bad, they estimate 5g of plastic per week. In the other two scenarios which used more complex but more realistic modelling they estimate 0.15 and 0.3g of plastic cons…

What’s worrying about this is that we’re about 50 years into an unexplained epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease that nobody has a clear explanation for, and is also affecting lab animals fed controlled diets. It would be fascinating if this was all correlated with a common environmental contaminant, and the increasing use of various plastics could line up well.

> 50 years into an unexplained epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease that nobody has a clear explanation for,

I think you need to look at how the food has changed in this time. For example, here in the UK supermarkets dont want pigs with 1 1/2" of back fat so the farmer get the nutritionist to make up a diet low in vitamin B5 because it helps to shift the fat under the skin. Nett result, you have fatty organs and marbleized meat as the fat remains else where in the body. We can grow chickens in half the time it took to grow them in the 70's, chemicals in the environment remain in the body for years even lifetimes, pollution levels are at their highest in a generation, people dont exercise like they used to.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#259

Post by wmeredith »

trzy wrote: post #116
slim wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that pie chart to the left is not poor design choice. it demonstrates actual incompetency.

Why? The labels are given in absolute units but they are correct.

One of the labels has a typo.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#260

Post by jnwatson »

Terry_Roll wrote: post #258
matthewdgreen wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s worrying about this is that we’re about 50 years into an unexplained epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease that nobody has a clear explanation for, and is also affecting lab animals fed controlled diets. It would be fascinating if this was all correlated with a common environmental contaminant, and the increasing use of various plastics could line up well.

> 50 years into an unexplained epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease that nobody has a clear explanation for, I think you need to look at how the food has changed in this time. For example, here in the UK supermarkets dont want pigs with 1 1/2" of back fat so the farmer get the nutritionist to make up a diet low in vitamin B5 because it helps to shift the fat under the skin. Nett result, you have fatty organs and…

Right but it happens to our pets too.
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