we have recently transitioned to only using glass bottles in our family.
What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
21–30 of 124 posts
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#22Microplastics have always fascinated me, because I keep seeing article after article about how much microplastic exists around us, but far less strong evidence about its actual effects. That is not to say there are no effects, of course. Maybe we just have not found them yet. A friend of mine worked on her bachelor’s thesis about the effects of microplastics on the immune system, specifically T cells. Her result was…
> ... too large to interact with T cells.
Also, unfortunately, a result that industry and the anti-regulation crowd will use to say microplastics are harmless.
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#23I think hate of plastics is an emergent form of elitism. Upwardly mobile middle/upper class people who've sort of "maxed out" the amount of personal identity they can buy with regular plastic things can unlock a new level of identity by deciding that plastics are bad for them and eliminating plastics from their life, a process which conveniently requires buying a whole new set of things that distinguish them from the…
Every plastic object replaced with a metal, or similarly strong/more solid material is an upgrade.
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#24Microplastics have always fascinated me, because I keep seeing article after article about how much microplastic exists around us, but far less strong evidence about its actual effects. That is not to say there are no effects, of course. Maybe we just have not found them yet. A friend of mine worked on her bachelor’s thesis about the effects of microplastics on the immune system, specifically T cells. Her result was…
Can microplastics never get small enough to interact with T cells?
There’s a transition point where things stop being micro plastics, then nano plastics, and become specific chemicals.
Those molecules may be toxic but the interactions are distinct from microplastics or nano plastics.
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#25I think hate of plastics is an emergent form of elitism. Upwardly mobile middle/upper class people who've sort of "maxed out" the amount of personal identity they can buy with regular plastic things can unlock a new level of identity by deciding that plastics are bad for them and eliminating plastics from their life, a process which conveniently requires buying a whole new set of things that distinguish them from the…
You could just liken it to any pop health, dietary, or environmental fad instead of trying to portray a banal "people turn consumer choices into personal identity/lifestyle" trend as a whole new class of phenomenon. Crunchy hippies shop organic and audiophiles buy gold-plated premium wires; every subculture has at least a little bit of superstition.
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#26Microplastics have always fascinated me, because I keep seeing article after article about how much microplastic exists around us, but far less strong evidence about its actual effects. That is not to say there are no effects, of course. Maybe we just have not found them yet. A friend of mine worked on her bachelor’s thesis about the effects of microplastics on the immune system, specifically T cells. Her result was…
> She probably will not publish this result because she thinks it is not interesting enough. Classic file-drawer problem in academic science.
It's truly insane that everyone in the academic class understands the fundamental problems of herding and sampling bias and yet every incentive is in place to do this.
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#27We’re going to find out at an autopsy.
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#28[dead]
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#29I think hate of plastics is an emergent form of elitism. Upwardly mobile middle/upper class people who've sort of "maxed out" the amount of personal identity they can buy with regular plastic things can unlock a new level of identity by deciding that plastics are bad for them and eliminating plastics from their life, a process which conveniently requires buying a whole new set of things that distinguish them from the…
> There is so much invisible plastic in their life that they don't seem to care about.
Huh? You think it's hypocritical for people not to "seem to care about" things that, by your own definition, they are ignorant of?
Re: What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
#30Microplastics have always fascinated me, because I keep seeing article after article about how much microplastic exists around us, but far less strong evidence about its actual effects. That is not to say there are no effects, of course. Maybe we just have not found them yet. A friend of mine worked on her bachelor’s thesis about the effects of microplastics on the immune system, specifically T cells. Her result was…
Can microplastics never get small enough to interact with T cells?
Unknown to me, but something useful to know is that there is something smaller than microplastics called nanoplastics. The distinguishing factor is that nanoplastics are particles smaller than 1 micron, while microplastics are particles between 1 micron and around 5 millimeters. As your other respondent notes, at some point you're talking about single molecules. As plastics is an entire category and not a single thing, there's no one size where that happens, but some polymers have chains that are as little as 0.01 (1/100th of a) micron in size.
As far as I am aware, we have yet to have effective, replicable research on what if any biointeractions exist with nanoplastic particles, including single polymer chains.