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New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

sustainableplastics.com

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Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#81

Post by bombolo »

jokoon wrote: post #74
njovin wrote: post #22

I'm still shocked that there hasn't been more of a regulatory push to eliminate single-use plastics. In the US the closest we've gotten is banning plastic straws and charging for plastic carry bags. Everything I've read about plastic recycling points to it being ineffective and requiring massive amounts of fossil fuel to move the waste around the globe, often with much of it just getting burned or dumped into the env…

The problem of replacing plastic in food is the cost. If you use glass or steel or aluminum, you need new logistics to reuse them. Also, glass is heavier, and requires a lot of energy to be made, so it would require a production chain that ships back empty containers. The best silver bullet solution would be to have local canteen, a bit like in the army or at school, where you just get a subscription with a calendar…

I call you someone who doesn't like to eat good food :D

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#82

Post by ethanbond »

superhumanuser wrote: post #59
ethanbond wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ideally, governments armed with scientists are capable of making key judgments like this one without “my child’s arm fell off” levels of apparent, individual harm.

Scientists are wrong... a lot. The harm should be obvious to the layman IMHO in order to be legislated away. Otherwise, it should be left up to personal choice.

This is an absolutely horrible heuristic. Let’s put radioactive toys, toys painted with lead, leaded gasoline, DDT, and thalidomide back on the market. None of these were “obvious to the layman.”

Individual scientists are wrong a lot. Science as a process continues to be the (imperfect) reigning world champ of truth discovery, no matter what contrarianism du jour memes are spreading over the internet.

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#83

Post by hotstickyballs »

bhouston wrote: post #75

There are two macro population health trends that suggest we are somehow poisoning ourselves at a large scale. Most people do not relate the two, but I personally wouldn't be surprised if they have related causes. The first is the Flynn effect, which was rising IQ levels decade over decade, which halted and then reserved for most Western nations around 1990s/2000s and is now declining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…

[flagged]

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#84

Post by some_random »

andric wrote: post #23
zo1 wrote: post #12

I think micro-plastics and "forever" chemicals will be our generation's asbestos/cigarettes controversy.

And Long COVID is shaping up to be our generation’s HIV/AIDS. History rhymes because people don’t ever learn. We deal with one problem or crisis at a time, instead of generalizing what was learned in order to help future generations avoid the same mistakes.

I don't think you quite appreciate how fucking bad HIV/AIDS was, and is to this day.

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#85

Post by spicyusername »

bhouston wrote: post #75

There are two macro population health trends that suggest we are somehow poisoning ourselves at a large scale. Most people do not relate the two, but I personally wouldn't be surprised if they have related causes. The first is the Flynn effect, which was rising IQ levels decade over decade, which halted and then reserved for most Western nations around 1990s/2000s and is now declining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…

    probably fairly easy to deal with.
[citation needed]

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#86

Post by myshpa »

smallerfish wrote: post #73

> ‘water, seafood, consumer products (clothes, toothpaste, salt, sugar, honey, beer, anything stored in plastic bottles, plastic wrap, or cans/cartons lined with plastic), and via inhalation from textiles, synthetic rubber tires, and plastic covers’ How true is this? How do microplastics end up in honey, for example? And I thought plastic bottles/wrap etc were stable in the lifespan that they're used for food storage…

> is this really claiming that plastic starts to fall apart from the get-go

Yes.

Microplastics are everywhere. Everywhere on the planet we look, we find microplastics. Just ... everywhere.

Beekeepers are using plastic worker brood foundations, for example. Honey is often stored in plastic buckets and bottles, somewhere in the production process/transport.

And it's not just the honey.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/08/micropla...

Microplastics detected in meat, milk and blood of farm animals

https://www.awi.de/en/about-us/service/press/single-view/ark...

Arctic ice algae heavily contaminated with microplastics

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/24/micropla...

Microplastics found in human blood for first time

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/micro...

Microplastics found in 90 percent of table salt

https://phys.org/news/2020-03-plastic-bags-bottles-microplas...

Opening plastic bags and bottles may generate microplastics

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/micro...

Microplastics are raining down from the sky

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/plastics-remote-places-m...

Plastics are showing up in the world’s most remote places, including Mount Everest

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#87

Post by nonethewiser »

tmountain wrote: post #38
m_a_g wrote: post #5

This is the third time this week I've seen a study related to microplastics. Should I be alarmed? If so, what can I even do? If I'm understanding these studies correctly, these microplastics are everywhere. In our bodies, in our water supplies, in our food. And we can't even get rid of them.

I’m personally exhausted from hearing about all the terrible stuff that’s happening that I have very little to no control over. I have seen countless articles about micro plastics, forever chemicals, fresh water supplies decreasing at alarming levels, Gulf Stream collapse, etc. It’s enough to make you feel nihilistic. A big part of me feels like these are government problems, as the average person is preoccupied with…

It's also somewhat of a boogeyman. I mean they are real problems, widespread even, but the "everywhere-ness" of them is the boogeyman. You dont necessarily have to be as afraid of it as it may seem.

Sure its a real problem and we shouldn't be complacent. But is your faucet suddenly killing you or not? Maybe it's actually not. And maybe you should confirm that it is before being afraid of it after reading articles online.

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#88

Post by resonious »

reisse wrote: post #55
njovin wrote: post #22

I'm still shocked that there hasn't been more of a regulatory push to eliminate single-use plastics. In the US the closest we've gotten is banning plastic straws and charging for plastic carry bags. Everything I've read about plastic recycling points to it being ineffective and requiring massive amounts of fossil fuel to move the waste around the globe, often with much of it just getting burned or dumped into the env…

> It seems like we had a pretty good system years ago in requiring people to leave a deposit for bottles when purchasing beer or pop to incentivize return + reuse. On the other hand, this system incentivised using plastic bottles instead of glass, because of less hassle with returning. > Everything I've read about plastic recycling points to it being ineffective... There is one effective way to recycle plastic into e…

Japan incinerates trash for energy, and yet they typically require residents to separate plastics from "burnables". Maybe it'd be better (and easier) for everyone if we just started putting everything into the burnable pile.

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#89

Post by some_random »

fingting wrote: post #78
andric wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Long COVID is shaping up to be our generation’s HIV/AIDS. History rhymes because people don’t ever learn. We deal with one problem or crisis at a time, instead of generalizing what was learned in order to help future generations avoid the same mistakes.

[flagged]

HIV/AIDS does not just affect gay people, stop spreading this myth.

Re: New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour

#90

Post by bhouston »

spicyusername wrote: post #85
bhouston wrote: post #75

There are two macro population health trends that suggest we are somehow poisoning ourselves at a large scale. Most people do not relate the two, but I personally wouldn't be surprised if they have related causes. The first is the Flynn effect, which was rising IQ levels decade over decade, which halted and then reserved for most Western nations around 1990s/2000s and is now declining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…

probably fairly easy to deal with. [citation needed]

My suggestion, which isn't rocket science:

Ban plastic food containers for any type of long-term storage or anything that gets heated up (and different plastics have different microplastic shedding profiles, so ban the worst first) and also ban PFAS in anything that gets close to food. It will increase costs, but the alternative is we poison ourselves, so it is sort of needed. Phase it in so that industries have time to adapt.

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