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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

#51

Post by ironmagma »

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.

Stopping driving is only the beginning. Much more impactful would be to reduce the overall population's driving through legislation/taxation.

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

#52

Post by QuarterReptile »

glial wrote: post #35
olalonde wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stop driving? Not a realistic solution. The vast majority of people will take the microplastics over not driving.

Until the concentration is high enough it affects birth rates.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but birth rates are already pretty low, and, worse than failing to deal with the problem, some people think that is a good thing.

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

#53

Post by jampekka »

Plastics, let alone microplastics, are a rather small problem that seem to get a lot of airspace.

There are no established health effects of microplastics. There are magnitudes worse health problems in e.g. both under and overnutrition that cause a lot less panic and fuss.

https://www.undp.org/kosovo/blog/microplastics-human-health-...

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

#54

Post by Reason077 »

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.

> ”Most microplastic in water come from tires.”

And also synthetic clothes. According to the study they found more plastic fibres than plastic particles in many samples.

These get released when you launder your clothes, ending up in the drain water and ultimately the ocean.

Solution? Buy clothes with natural fibres (cotton, wool, etc) instead of plastics. And wash your clothes in a modern washing machine with a microfibre filter on its drain outlet.

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

#55

Post by polski-g »

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?

If you donate blood as soon as possible from your last blood donation (per federal regulations), you can remove 50% of your microplastic content per year. Some studies have also shown that going to saunas/sweat lodges also lower your microplastic content.

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

#56

Post by fnordpiglet »

cma wrote: post #39
ahazred8ta wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Most microplastic in water comes from washing machines. Synthetic fibers from clothes.

Each time you clean your dryer lint trap I think you inhale more microplastics than a lifetime of food.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43023-x

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

#57

Post by stevenwoo »

rhplus wrote: post #30

Can someone ELI5 this for me: how would microplastics passing through a digestive system end up in "proteins*"? Are they being stored directly in the fats, within cells, between muscle fibers...? (* the article seems to be using the term "protein" in the culinary sense, not the molecular sense).

There was another posting within the last few months that showed the particular microplastic they studied fit into the same ‘lock’ per lock/key of a biological molecule interaction and prevented the desired molecules from working together. It could be that or a different mechanism. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38322944

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

#59

Post by charliebwrites »

polski-g wrote: post #55
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?

If you donate blood as soon as possible from your last blood donation (per federal regulations), you can remove 50% of your microplastic content per year. Some studies have also shown that going to saunas/sweat lodges also lower your microplastic content.

Interesting, so we’ve shown it’s possible to _sweat_ out micro plastics in a sauna?

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

#60

Post by chrisamiller »

adamweld wrote: post #42
Solvency wrote: post #20

If this has been happening for decades, why are lifespans still increasing, why are average heights of new generations increasing, etc? I know PFAS are hormonal disrupters in research but it seems like most people are doing... just fine?

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-per-woman-un?tab...

Are you claiming that declining fertility is due to plastic, rather than to increasing wealth, education of women, and access to contraception? If so, then I'm going to have to ask you for a) a source and b) a plausible mechanism.
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