Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

sustainableplastics.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 403 posts

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

#211

Post by bawolff »

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…

> 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 then started to reverse a bit:

Same point in time where people started to get cell phones and be always connected to the internet.

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

#212

Post by zo1 »

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…

Collectivism need not invoke communism and socialism. I've long lamented how we've lost the local community at the village or even family level.

I.e. we can still follow your idea but at a village or family level. So why buy butter in a plastic tub when your neighbour next door has a cow and butter churning machine? Heck have a big enough multi-generational household compound and you can keep it all in-family!

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

#213

Post by kiba »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #180
rthomas6 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the metabolic syndrome/obesity epidemic. 40% of US adults have obesity. By 2030 about half of US adults will, and in 29 states more than half of adults will be obese. We see obesity becoming increasingly normalized. People feel powerless to stop it and that we should just accept it. It feels to me like there is something besides diet changes happening to us. That's part of it, but I wonder if microplastics or so…

> It feels to me like there is something besides diet changes happening to us. That's part of it, but I wonder if microplastics or some kind of gut biome disruption is playing a role as well. Based on what many people have in their shopping carts and the sugar water many people are constantly chugging, I see no reason to think anything other than excess calories is the cause. And lack of exercise as an exacerbating f…

Excess calories are the proximate causes. The factor that causes excess calories are likely multifactorial such as car dependency, toxic advertising, and environmental toxins such as obesogens, and more, including unidentified factors.

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

#214

Post by screye »

lebuffon wrote: post #158
rthomas6 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the metabolic syndrome/obesity epidemic. 40% of US adults have obesity. By 2030 about half of US adults will, and in 29 states more than half of adults will be obese. We see obesity becoming increasingly normalized. People feel powerless to stop it and that we should just accept it. It feels to me like there is something besides diet changes happening to us. That's part of it, but I wonder if microplastics or so…

Alternative explanation (call me crazy) :-) A US comedian once commented that when he went to Europe 20 years ago, he noticed that people only ate three meals a day. What a concept!

I don't know about you, but loads of people around me eat only 2 meals a day and still struggle with being overweight. (Not obese tho).

The number of meals is a very small part of the entire diet and lifestyle matrix.

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

#215

Post by yourusername »

trident5000 wrote: post #15

I bought a tub of BCAA powder from Ghost and was horrified after finding a large spidery plastic blob buried in there. I went to Burger King and looked inside the burger randomly which I never do and found plastic. Theres a microplastic issue but theres also a large plastic issue in food. Often times you do even notice when you eat it.

Some plastics are sold as food (gum).

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

#216

Post by bhouston »

oceanofsolaris wrote: post #198
constantly wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you please share this simple explanation for those of us who aren’t as smart as you?

I assume dysgenics (which you’d assume is happening if family size is inversely correlated with education and or income). AFAIK there are some studies that show that dysgenics are at least not the only effect in play (e.g. this study https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1718793115 ). But I am far from an expert on the topic.

Amazing study you found there. I hadn't seen it before.

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

#217

Post by trgn »

thworp wrote: post #63
rcarr wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree there’s far too much single use plastic. For example, it baffles me why non perishable products are still sold in transparent plastic bags. If they go to the store they generally get taken out of the plastic bag and put on display. If they’re sold online I have to waste time opening and discarding of a random plastic bag. Why? What purpose does it serve? If you’re that desperate to wrap it in something why no…

Mostly to prevent dust and other dirt accumulating before evrything goes into the final packaging.

I believe you. Or, plastic is essentially worthless, so it just gets applied willy-nilly. As if, plastic, _because_ it is cheap and easy to produce, therefore it must be everywhere. Go shopping, here's your free plastic bag, well, hell no, double bagged, because plastic is flimsy and crap quality (you didn't even ask, but force of habit, shrug). Package a thing, wrap it in plastic on the outside and the inside! And maybe, if you put in in a box, put more plastic inside that box. so the thingie is snugly ensconced in russian dolls of plastic. Plastic straws, free, a bunch of them, of course in a little plastic sleeve.

This proliferation of plastic is not rational, certainly not wholesome. It is purely the downstream effect of plastic being cheap to produce, it is primarily a technological phenomenon.

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

#218

Post by Izkata »

tohnjitor wrote: post #161
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…

Apparently most paper straws just have a thin plastic coating of PFOAs

We should replace both with cookie straws.

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

#219

Post by Matticus_Rex »

lukas099 wrote: post #200
usuallyalurker wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastic food containers aren't even close to being the largest source of microplastics. Synthetic fibres in clothing (like that cotton-poly blend shirt you're most likely wearing) and motor vehicle tyres are some of the bigger sources. These both also release particles directly into the atmosphere allowing them to get absolutely everywhere, unlike plastic in landfills that probably has a harder time escaping into the…

I think bhouston is talking more about poisoniing one’s own body with microplastics, whereas you’re talking about polluting the environment.

I'd guess he knows that. But we do live in the environment, and if they go into the environment they go into the food chain, no?

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

#220

Post by bee_rider »

bowsamic wrote: post #117
jokoon wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is how they do it in Germany. Most working Germans I know of eat at the work canteen and have a small bread meal at home in the evening Weird that you're getting downvoted for this. HN is on a weird one recently

Is a canteen the same thing as a cafeteria? Lots of Americans have their lunch at a work cafeteria as well.

A big lunch and a small dinner would probably be a good change for lots of us.

Post reply on HN