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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

#61

Post by emptybits »

tppiotrowski wrote: post #25
epistasis wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think of tires as being made of rubber. Where does the plastic come from?

Car and light truck tires are apparently only about 19% rubber.[1] More than half of a tire's composition is synthetic polymers, fillers, and textiles (e.g. polyester, rayon, nylon).

[1] https://www.ustires.org/whats-tire-0

Tires generate more particles of pollution than exhaust.[2] EVs are good. But eliminating car exhaust apparently isn't the big car pollution problem.

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/03/car-tyre...

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

#62

Post by thereddaikon »

ethanbond wrote: post #27
epistasis wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What upper bounds? One of the higher-confidence hypotheses of the effects of plastic contamination is reproductive disruption. Since these plastics bioaccumulate and pass from mother to child, there’s reason to worry about intergenerational accrual of reproductive damage. So as far as I can tell, the “upper bound” of harm is reproductive collapse of our species?

>What upper bounds? Well we know it isn't acutely toxic because people aren't just dropping dead inexplicably. And we know it isn't drastically raising cancer rates because, again those haven't inexplicably shot up.

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

#63

Post by polski-g »

riku_iki wrote: post #17
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..

We have lots of replacements for plastic, what we used before plastic: Metal lunch boxes, metal cups, metal piping, etc

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

#64

Post by haltist »

thereddaikon wrote: post #58

Have we been able to link any real harm to microplastics? I know it sounds bad intuitively. But can we draw a link to any diseases? What if this just amounts to fear mongering?

Children are now born with plastic in their veins so we'll know soon enough what happens to these children based on their health outcomes.

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

#65

Post by Solvency »

mandmandam wrote: post #46
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?

> why are lifespans still increasing We are burning huge amounts of fossil fuels to run the economy. This economic boon leads to longer lifetimes, at a huge but externalized and delayed cost. > it seems like most people are doing... just fine? Where do you live? Outside of affluent areas, I think most people these days would laugh at such an absurd claim. We are not fine, physically or mentally. Our soil isn't fine.…

I agree fully with you. And I've read Kiss The Ground. Twice.

But certain biomarkers in average are oddly doing ok. It's weird.

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

#66

Post by CharlesW »

jampekka wrote: post #53

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-...

> There are no established health effects of microplastics.

It'd be more true to say, "There are no established significant health effects of microplastics on humans." FWIW, the article you linked to doesn't say "no effects", but "limited evidence for significant adverse health impacts".

This seems concerning: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9885170/

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

#67

Post by polski-g »

chrisamiller wrote: post #60
adamweld wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Fertility is collapsing in North Korea and Iran. So no, its not about any of those things.

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

#68

Post by tatjam »

philipkglass wrote: post #36
seydor wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

life adapts to plastic

Plastic gets consumed by oceanic microorganisms, though slowly. Take a look at the fascinating microscopic images of plastic partially eaten by microorganisms in this 2013 research article, "Life in the Plastisphere: Microbial Communities on Plastic Marine Debris": http://onemoregeneration.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Life... Plastics also break down to simpler hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide with prolonged exposur…

It's absolutely insane how, if humanity disappeared today, we would become really hard to detect in pretty short time scales.

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

#69

Post by fnordpiglet »

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.

Birth rates isn’t what motivates people. It’s the act that creates births that people care about. To that end, until it causes impotence.

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

#70

Post by b112 »

louthy wrote: post #49
toomuchtodo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know how mercury bioaccumulates up the food chain? It looks like microplastics are similar [1] [2], and they are everywhere in the food web [3]. It's even in the bottled water [4]. [1] https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/08/30/microplastics-could... [2] https://www.uri.edu/news/2023/08/microplastics-infiltrate-al... [3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... [4] https://news.ycombinator.co…

> It's even in the bottled water The bottled water that comes in plastic bottles? Not that surprising?

Oh no. They're going to take my bagged milk away.

https://www.tvo.org/article/think-bagged-milk-is-weird-think...

When I was a kid, many had their lunch sandwiches in a re-used milk bag too. And you can use the empty bags to store other stuff in the fridge.

Are you going to take a big milk jug, or a cardboard milk container, and use it like a sandwich bag? It's so useful.

It's the perfect way to get milk. PERFECT.

And now.. this.

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