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Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

oceanconservancy.org

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Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#11

Post by corytheboyd »

I have done zero research, am not at all qualified to say any such things… but I feel like microplastics will eventually be looked back on the way we look back on asbestos today. “People used to throw PLASTIC in the ocean?!” We are in that awkward period of being aware, yet the damage has been done, so now we wait for the long-term effects to manifest.

Again, probably wrong, not at all an opinion to be taken as fact, just a gut feeling. History tells us that there will at least be SOMETHING perceived as normal today that is later discovered to be not okay, anyway. Plastic, social media, hell, maybe even EV after 50 years of batteries rotting in landfills.

Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#12

Post by gigglesupstairs »

seydor wrote: post #4
stevenpetryk wrote: post #3

Feels truly irreversible, save moving to a new earth.

life adapts to plastic

Is there any research being done on how our bodies are “hopefully” learning to adapt to this omnipresence of plastics everywhere in and around us?

Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#13

Post by ethanbond »

seydor wrote: post #4
stevenpetryk wrote: post #3

Feels truly irreversible, save moving to a new earth.

life adapts to plastic

People tend to care disproportionately about human life. We don’t actually know whether we’ll adapt at the pace required to overcome widespread plastic contamination (or really whether we even need to adapt).

Policy-by-platitude is a bad strategy.

Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#14

Post by stcg »

david422 wrote: post #7
charliebwrites wrote: post #5

So what do we do about them? Is there any way to remove microplastics from a person/animal once already ingested? What technology if any is being worked on to help alleviate this?

Hope we don't get cancer. Become vegetarian.

I don't think becoming vegetarian helps. From the article:

> The study found evidence that food processing is a likely source of microplastic contamination, as highly processed protein products (like fish sticks, chicken nuggets, tofu, and plant-based burgers, among others) contained significantly more microplastics per gram than minimally processed products (items like packaged wild Alaska pollock, raw chicken breast, and others).

Note the tofu and plant-based burgers.

Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#15

Post by disney »

corytheboyd wrote: post #11

I have done zero research, am not at all qualified to say any such things… but I feel like microplastics will eventually be looked back on the way we look back on asbestos today. “People used to throw PLASTIC in the ocean?!” We are in that awkward period of being aware, yet the damage has been done, so now we wait for the long-term effects to manifest. Again, probably wrong, not at all an opinion to be taken as fact,…

> I have done zero research, am not at all qualified to say any such things… but

Always a great way to start a sentence. (Intended in jest.)

Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#16

Post by epistasis »

corytheboyd wrote: post #11

I have done zero research, am not at all qualified to say any such things… but I feel like microplastics will eventually be looked back on the way we look back on asbestos today. “People used to throw PLASTIC in the ocean?!” We are in that awkward period of being aware, yet the damage has been done, so now we wait for the long-term effects to manifest. Again, probably wrong, not at all an opinion to be taken as fact,…

Perhaps, but we really don't know the harm.

And if the exposure is as universal as it sounds, then we can place some upper bounds on the amount of harm. With asbestos, the exposure was somewhat limited, but had greater consewuences. With plastics, we are all getting it.

Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#17

Post by riku_iki »

corytheboyd wrote: post #11

I have done zero research, am not at all qualified to say any such things… but I feel like microplastics will eventually be looked back on the way we look back on asbestos today. “People used to throw PLASTIC in the ocean?!” We are in that awkward period of being aware, yet the damage has been done, so now we wait for the long-term effects to manifest. Again, probably wrong, not at all an opinion to be taken as fact,…

we have robust replacement for asbestos, but not clear if we will get replacement for plastic..

Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#18

Post by SteveNuts »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #10
seydor wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

life adapts to plastic

I think the idea we have this highly dense energy source pervasively available across the earth in all biomes with an exposed surface area that is unfathomable, life will adapt to consume that source of carbon rich energy. I suspect we may be bringing the end of the age of plastics rapidly.

And the lifecycle of the likely consumers of this energy source have much faster reproduction cycles, therefore faster ability to evolve to use this energy source.

I'm very curious how we will protect against this, otherwise bacteria will eat away at our car dashboards and such.

Re: Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled

#19

Post by anonymous_pro_ »

epistasis wrote: post #8
charliebwrites wrote: post #5

So what do we do about them? Is there any way to remove microplastics from a person/animal once already ingested? What technology if any is being worked on to help alleviate this?

Stop driving? Most microplastic in water come from tires. I've been trying to make small moves away from car infrastructure in my town and the response is, well, less than positive. We already tacitly accept that cars are one of the biggest causes of death. Reducing car infrastructure to reduce microplastics, where we don't even really know the harm, seems far far more challenging.

What town is that? It seems like the success of diversifying away from cars depends on the place and how it grew. LA, for example, grew at the time of peak automobile infrastructure investment and it's basically unrecoverable at this point. There are probably other reasons why places like LA are so locked in to cars now, but that's the one that seems obvious to me.
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