11–20 of 219 posts
As I understand it, they took a small sample of brain tissue, extracted the plastic, and then extrapolated that (based on the tissue sample size) over the whole of the brain. This assumes the presence of plastic is evenly distributed throughout the brain, which isn't necessarily the case.
I thought it was our gonads that had the most?
> not a spoonful, but the same weight as a plastic spoon oh
- Well, it's roughly the size of a two-year old child, if the child were liquefied.
> While we suspected that MNPs might accumulate in the body over a lifespan, the lack of correlation between total plastics and decedent age (P = 0.87 for brain data) does not support this (Supplementary Fig. 1). However, total mass concentration of plastics in the brains analyzed in this study increased by approximately 50% in the past 8 years. Thus, we postulate that the exponentially increasing environmental concentrations of MNPs2,14 may analogously increase internal maximal concentrations. Although there are few studies to draw on yet performed in mammals, in zebrafish exposed to constant concentrations, nanoplastic uptake increased to a stable plateau and cleared after exposure15; however, the maximal internal concentrations were increased proportionately with higher nanoplastic exposure concentrations. While clearance rates and elimination routes of MNPs from the brain remain uncharacterized, it is possible that an equilibrium—albeit variable between people—might occur between exposure, uptake and clearance, with environmental exposure concentrations ultimately determining the internal body burden.
Which means that if we were to take action on this, we might actually be able to reduce our exposure. Unfortunately, things are going in the wrong direction.
I keep thinking it would be nice if microplastic exposure were to start generating the kind of focus and controversy that is currently taking place with vaccines and autism spectrum disorder.
As I understand it, they took a small sample of brain tissue, extracted the plastic, and then extrapolated that (based on the tissue sample size) over the whole of the brain. This assumes the presence of plastic is evenly distributed throughout the brain, which isn't necessarily the case.
The only good news here is that it's possible that the body can clear the plastics. This is from the linked study: > While we suspected that MNPs might accumulate in the body over a lifespan, the lack of correlation between total plastics and decedent age (P = 0.87 for brain data) does not support this (Supplementary Fig. 1). However, total mass concentration of plastics in the brains analyzed in this study increased…
I like the analogy where other articles have said we have microplastics in our brain about the size of a credit card (which generally weigh between 4g and 10g) better. Saying a “spoon’s worth” seems to be downplaying the unmitigated potential risk. We have no idea what will happen as we (and all the other creatures on earth) keep storing more and more microplastics in our organs. Nobody is going to stop driving. Car…
The risk does seem fairly mitigated, most of us will make it through today fine. The only part of my brain I can account for now is the 1x credit card worth of plastic, all the other bits are a mystery. Death was inevitable before the microplastics, remains inevitable after the microplastics and things seem fine so far.
We don't know much about the risks of anything. People regularly douse themselves with mind-altering substances and ingest the weirdest variety of stuff.