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Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

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Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#41

Post by bluSCALE4 »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #29
Night_Thastus wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they're stating either - just that it's pretty impractical to remove plastic from clothing at this point.

Why is it impractical? It would be unpopular and put prices up but it could be done. We would have to reduce the amount of clothing that is produced but that is hardly a problem as we produce vastly more than we need. We could eliminate fast fashion for a start.

You don't hear people saying, man, that asbestos and lead did a bang up job on X. But you 100% see 100% of women wearing stretchy pants. For the longest time I exclusively wore cotton jeans and then they became impossible to find and I finally realized what plastic was good for: fat people. Now I see men wearing them all the time. The struggle of the 80s on people killing themselves to fit into jeans is not longer a thing.

Not sure how socks used to be without plastic but pretty sure they'd fall apart fast.

Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#42

Post by cubefox »

Sharlin wrote: post #35
cubefox wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems plastic in fabrics can mostly be replaced with cotton.

Cotton production, however, is extremely resource-intensive (particularly water) to the point of unsustainability – and it's largely grown in parts of the world that are likely to suffer catastrophic droughts in the future.

Cotton has been produced for a long time and with far more primitive means than today, so I'm pretty sure it is sustainable. Moreover, cotton being so cheap pretty much rules out it being "extremely resource intensive". Water is a very inexpensive resource in most parts of the world.

Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#43

Post by lurking_swe »

Sharlin wrote: post #35
cubefox wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems plastic in fabrics can mostly be replaced with cotton.

Cotton production, however, is extremely resource-intensive (particularly water) to the point of unsustainability – and it's largely grown in parts of the world that are likely to suffer catastrophic droughts in the future.

on the bright side, cotton is a lot more durable and lasts longer.

Another problem is fast fashion. The fashion industry is a bit of a cancer on the planet, encouraging chains like H&M to sell very cheap clothes filled with plastic, that people need to replace every few years.

Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#44

Post by moffkalast »

hypeatei wrote: post #20
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #2

What the plan to deal with this? People make fun of doomers, but this unfixable. PS: originally this said boomers, but I meant Doomers, as I. People who run around screaming the world is doomed

Lawyers. If harmful effects are found decades later, then we'll be entitled to compensation! How fun.

Here's your 3 dollars, don't spend it all in one place.

Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#45

Post by mrob »

ninininino wrote: post #39
Night_Thastus wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they're stating either - just that it's pretty impractical to remove plastic from clothing at this point.

It's extremely practical. We have cotton, linen, and wool as great amazing fabrics. Drawstrings replace elastic.

In my opinion, no natural fabric is as comfortable as synthetics. But I have cotton bedding and curtains. I think these are higher priority: bedding is used while you're lying close to it and easily able to inhale any dust, and curtains are exposed to sunlight that can weaken the fabric and make it break down more easily. They're also both large, meaning there's more plastic to be released. Carpet also seems a high priority, although that's more expensive and difficult to change.

Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#46

Post by lurking_swe »

gravitronic wrote: post #9

Starting to eye my dryer lint as a toxic substance

depends what you’re drying, no?

I personally use a clothing rack to hang all my plastic (polyester, spandex, etc) clothes, and i only put cotton items in the dryer. Including towels of course.

Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#47

Post by nextos »

cube2222 wrote: post #7

Does someone have good papers on the negative effects of microplastics (ideally on humans)? A while back I tried to look for those, and it was nontrivial to find papers that would conclusively show that they are harmful, and the mechanisms of this harmfulness. There's a ton of press about where they are (everywhere) but (as a layman) you could argue it's because they're not very reactive, and this lack of reactivity…

This is probably one of the most prominent studies till date: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38446676

Microplastics and nanoplastics in atheromas and cardiovascular events. N Engl J Med. 390(10):900-910, 2024.

Summary: People with artherial plaque that contains micro- and nano-plastics have a higher risk of death during the followup period. It's an observational study, sample size is not too big, but some findings look quite mechanistic suggesting causality, e.g. "electron microscopy revealed visible, jagged-edged foreign particles among plaque macrophages and scattered in the external debris". The effect size induced by microplastics on death risk also looks substantial.

Personally, I think microplastics are a very important pollutant, and evidence of this will unfold during the next years. Sadly, it is extraordinarily hard to remove them from our environment. They are everywhere. For example, car tires shed lots of microplastics that end up in eggs or inside vegetables and plants, which absorb them from soil. Most liquids are packaged inside plastic, which is continuously leaking into the content. We should at least be measuring their levels and setting up maximum concentration thresholds in our food chain. We should go back to glass bottles, whenever possible. Suspended microplastics in the air are also a major concern. Plastics are great for certain applications, but we use them in places where they don't belong.

Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#48

Post by taeric »

ninininino wrote: post #39
Night_Thastus wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they're stating either - just that it's pretty impractical to remove plastic from clothing at this point.

It's extremely practical. We have cotton, linen, and wool as great amazing fabrics. Drawstrings replace elastic.

Nothing is replacing nylon where it is best used anytime soon.

Re: Microplastics in the olfactory bulb of the human brain

#49

Post by krick »

bluSCALE4 wrote: post #11
ushiroda80 wrote: post #6

Plastics need be banned from clothing and food.

From clothing? Do you have any idea how prevalent it's become? It is hard/impossible to find clothes without traces of plastic.

Traces? I'm really puzzled by this thread, meaning I don't really understand what do people mean by plastics. I would guess it's all synthetic fabrics, but then the gp proposition is so nuts it's surprising someone even discusses it. Like, all sportswear is synthetic, and you cannot replace it with any old-fashioned fabrics, because synthetics are simply better. It isn't even the right word, it's like saying you must ban motorized vehicles from transportation. I mean, sure, there was a time when people were wearing wool, wood and leather and somehow even managed to do something like mountaineering in it, but it is absolutely unimaginable to me, how you can go for long grueling hikes in cotton clothes that just won't dry out on your body.
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