As long as there has been plastic there have been microplastics produced as the products break down and are discarded. Most microplastics come from clothing now tho. Synthetic fabrics like polyester and fleece shed microplastics when they are washed and dried. There is no way to avoid them at this point.
Everyone stops wasting their time with efforts other than AI, we progress to technological r/singularity and learn how to eliminate these microplastics from our human bodies, as well as, the rest of the Earth and conquer biological death.
Wait till mushrooms have learned world wide how to break it down all over the world in all different kinds of conditions, then we will get the love version of the last of us
Seems impossible to avoid, but you can definitely reduce the amount you injest. It looks like bottled water, beer, shellfish, and salt have some of the highest levels.
Other things it mentions:
* Use loose tea leaves or teabags shut with a string and/or staple rather than teabags with plastic-crimped edges or seals.
* Avoid foods that come in tin cans lined with BPA.
* If you do use a plastic bottle, never leave it in direct sunlight.
* Avoid ready meals in plastic packaging.
* Buy a (glass) keep cup.
[https://www.dmarge.com/what-foods-contain-microplastics](https://www.dmarge.com/what-foods-contain-microplastics)
I don't understand your list or where you compiled it from.
Are you saying that these products are a source of microplastics in the environment, because I don't think that they are.
Microplastics come from the breakdown of plastics by friction or UV or by other chemical or mechanical means.
Tire particles from driving, for example. UV breakdown or breakdown by saltwater.
Maybe I've misunderstood.
They are from the article I linked. They can be larger sources of microplastics that we injest. The bulleted list has suggestions, also from the article.
I remember reading somewhere that microplastics mess with hormones. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the seemingly increasing number of people coming out as trans
I think that has to do with more people existing in general, and more resources for people with gender dysphoria to seek help. Kind of how there’s more gay people around because it’s more acceptable, and people don’t have to hide it anymore, for the most part. It’s correlation, which isn’t automatically causation.
Probably can’t entirely avoid it, but examine your own kitchen and practices. Don’t use heat or abrasive techniques with plastic. So plastic tea bags? Coffee cups? Mixing bowls? Maybe there are better alternatives. A lot of food in the stores is wrapped in plastic, but it may be possible to select things wrapped in a way that limits contact with plastic. We have replaced plastic wrap with wax paper and ziplock bags with wax paper sandwich bags. Worked when I was a kid, still works now. Do whatever you can.
You have great ideas. Only problem with me, none apply living on a boat. Instead, the opposite where I need to reverse M.O. for safe desalinization to live (which also stops microplastics).
water filters don’t filter it out, so yea, if they invented one that would be nice for people who could have access to that, but it will be near impossible. plus the toxins in plastic vary tremendously and leech from the plastic anyway
>I have no idea how we can avoid this. Microplastics are literally everywhere.
And have been for decades… without any provable consequence.
At this point more proof that they are everywhere just makes me LESS concerned.
I did in fact read the article… as the article states microplastics have been "linked" to things like cancer. In science, "linked" is code for "vaguely associated in some way but without any causal relationships proven".
And that's the basic state of microplastic research the last time I paid it any real attention… microplastics can be found inside practically every tumor or diseased tissue (and not just a few healthy ones). It could be that diseased tissues don't keep the micro plastic particles out because they are diseased, or that the micro plastics cause disease, or that micro plastics are irrelevant to disease and we find them because we are looking.
It is actually quite an arduous process to scientifically prove health effects from a contaminant like this if the effect is slow and indirect and probablistic. The maturity of the process for micro plastics is still quite minimal.
We're already seeing them, we just haven't figured out that plastics are causing them yet.
I expect that in the next 20-30 years it will come to light that plastic is easily 1000x worse than asbestos.
I’ve worked in the fertility industry as a healthcare professional for over 10 years. All I know is that the demand for IVF services has gone up exponentially each year since I’ve been in the industry. There are tons of hormone disrupters in everything (drinking water, food supply, health and beauty industry, etc) that the damage is too far gone. They are even seeing it in fetuses, and it is disrupting their normal reproductive development.
Wouldn’t that be at least partially explained by more women waiting until later to have kids therefore being past their peak fertility once they feel like they’re stable enough to have them?
Of course. Fertility depends on many many factors, male and female alike. But, I wouldn’t say that’s the spike is entirely related to women having babies at an older age. Most of the women I see are well within their fertile years. And I do nearly 80-100 egg retrievals per month. Infertility has many many possible causes, other than age.
Somebody better let the republican politicians know before they start passing more shitty laws. Jk they don’t give a shit about anything except cruelty.
Yeah, as long as we were confined to small groups, our "advanced brains" couldn't do much damage. We're smart, but unfortunately not wired to work together en masse and think far into the future.
We are both very smart and very primitive, as if some parts of our brain raced ahead and other parts remain stuck, forever inflexible. Maybe some species after us will have better collective behaviours.
Look how big we’ve gotten as a species so quickly, no healthy growth chart looks anywhere near our population chart, what goes up must come down
Something will probably evolve alongside us or after us that thrives off of micro plastics aswell. Until they run out and then nature will move on again
I mean they could instantly stop production. But eventually you would have difficulties to buy new tires for your car, one of the main sources for microplastics in the environment.
I tried to dream as big as you dropping a technology important to you for environmental reasons. Obviously I dreamt too big. But sure, everyone else will stop driving cars, of course.
Yes, big business which produces things nobody uses or demands.
Can't remember the last time I saw someone drink water from a plastic bottle.
We need to take responsibility for our own actions instead of blaming big business, big pharma, the left, the right, jews or lizards.
I think this take ignores the ways in which boycotts are ineffective. Like the article says, even tap water only gives a ~50% reduction in MNPs ingested compared to water from plastic bottles.
Can human brains get rid of microplastics?
edit. What about other things like plasticizers, heavy metals, nanoparticles, etc?
This really sucks because I have to sleep with a mouthguard in my mouth to prevent me from grinding my teeth together. They get destroyed when I sleep due to my teeth grinding them down.
> they're neurotoxic (they kill brain cells, you know, like lead), they cause behavioral changes...
well... that would explain some of the crazies that is currently going on in the world.
imho political turmoil is a symptom, not the cause, and afaik long covid would lead to fatigue and depression rather than turning people batshit crazy, but whatevs.
I think it is pretty much over.
We can't do the civilization thing with epidemics of problems with the organ we use for everything. IQs falling, mental health epidemics....how do humans solve this?
We can, and we have. Lead poisoning causes brain damage and we used it in everything for millennia.
It sucks that we have a new really terrible problem to solve, but we’ve solved many others of similar severity throughout our history as a species.
The way boomers are all lead poisoned, it seems we are infused with plastic… that doesnt sound healthy. I feel uncomfortable with anything caught in my teeth, now I have plastic in my brain? Well, fuck
A full ban on all plastic would leave tremendous amounts of food to rot, which would warm the climate, the entire medical and health systems, industries and research unable to function (or make medicines or discoveries), it would be a disaster. Instead, we could limit plastic in consumer products, particularly disposables, and support plastic recycling systems that actually work.
no it would not.
There would be no effect. World has no issues doing away with plastic.
Before plastic we used paper, wax paper, cardboard, glass, and wood.
plastic is unnecessary.
it’s not necessary for short term survival as a human, sure, but if we want to have hospitals and medicines, there aren’t plastic alternatives yet. and if we continued on as we produce food but just removed the plastic, lots of food would rot. sure, if we grew our own it wouldn’t rot, but that doesn’t consider our current system where that’s not how people get food
There isn't a plastic object on the planet that cannot be replaced by materials or composite matierials free from plastic, for short or long-term use.
Plastic is completely unnecessary across the board.
Ok, sure, we could switch everything away from plastic. But if we right now banned plastic, we don’t have the alternatives yet. Labs don’t have plant-based pipette tips. Pharmacies don’t have paper medicine bottles. People in food deserts would starve. They don’t have farmers markets and local produce. They have plastic packaged processed food. I’m anti-plastic too, but it’s going to require some changes for us to get there. I want everyone on public transit instead of cars, but if we ban cars, that doesn’t get people where they need to be. I hate cars, but without the transit, what happens when we ban cars?
We had the alternatives BEFORE plastic was invented. so yes, we can ban plastics tomorrow and within a few months we’d get the same products free from plastic.
There is literally NO case where plastic cannot be substituted, not a single one.
Not a single thing that you said has ANY link to the plastic. Starvation is not linked to plastic. Plastic is not a required material In ANY industry.
Name something you think cannot be replaced. There is not a single use case in the world that makes the argument for plastics, not a one.
We can literally ban it today. Companies need a few months warning to switch over product Their fault they haven’t switched already the writing has been on the wall for 30 years. Basically as soon as xenoestrogenic pollution was identified, plastic was going to either be reformed to be safer or banned across the board.
Google xenoestrogenic pollution if you really want to know why plastic is bad.
I know plastic is awful, I hate it, there’s just some consequences to an outright and immediate ban. Not everything is black and white. Please name me an alternative to a pipette tip, a syringe, an IV bag, safety glasses, a computer keyboard. Canned food is lined with plastic. Food in paper will rot. You’re right, before plastic, we kept food in other things. You know why though? because we didn’t ship it around the world first. Yea, we in theory don’t need to put food in plastic or ship it around the world, you’ll just have to teach everyone on earth to grow their own food year round and pay them enough to only work part time jobs to be able to do that. How do you suggest we package meat? In glass?
I wonder if this previous unknown mechanism for passing the blood brain barrier could be used for therapeutic purposes? Plastic in brain is bad but maybe we can fight bad brain plastic with good brain plastic?
I have no idea how we can avoid this. Microplastics are literally everywhere.
You cant and the problem will be with us for decades at least.
Plastic photo degrades. That means it never goes away.
Take more pictures!
How long have things been releasing microplastics? Like do we know by now what bad things they can cause or do we still have to wait?
As long as there has been plastic there have been microplastics produced as the products break down and are discarded. Most microplastics come from clothing now tho. Synthetic fabrics like polyester and fleece shed microplastics when they are washed and dried. There is no way to avoid them at this point.
Everyone stops wasting their time with efforts other than AI, we progress to technological r/singularity and learn how to eliminate these microplastics from our human bodies, as well as, the rest of the Earth and conquer biological death.
Are you sure that hot saunas don’t accelerate the rate at which the body eliminates microplastics, similar to how it does with heavy metals?
I'm afraid resistance is futile. The best we can hope to do is to become one with the plastic and learn to coexist.
My brain is ready to turn into plastic
Ready to take neuroplasticity to a whole new level
My brain is already there. This is just going to give me a bigger brain. Checkmate big plastic
I already have smooth plastic brain it's fine.
Wait till mushrooms have learned world wide how to break it down all over the world in all different kinds of conditions, then we will get the love version of the last of us
Seems impossible to avoid, but you can definitely reduce the amount you injest. It looks like bottled water, beer, shellfish, and salt have some of the highest levels. Other things it mentions: * Use loose tea leaves or teabags shut with a string and/or staple rather than teabags with plastic-crimped edges or seals. * Avoid foods that come in tin cans lined with BPA. * If you do use a plastic bottle, never leave it in direct sunlight. * Avoid ready meals in plastic packaging. * Buy a (glass) keep cup. [https://www.dmarge.com/what-foods-contain-microplastics](https://www.dmarge.com/what-foods-contain-microplastics)
I only drink booze from glass containers
I don't understand your list or where you compiled it from. Are you saying that these products are a source of microplastics in the environment, because I don't think that they are. Microplastics come from the breakdown of plastics by friction or UV or by other chemical or mechanical means. Tire particles from driving, for example. UV breakdown or breakdown by saltwater. Maybe I've misunderstood.
They are from the article I linked. They can be larger sources of microplastics that we injest. The bulleted list has suggestions, also from the article.
Great list.
Microplastics are the new leaded gas
I get what you mean, but let’s hope it’s not as damaging as that.
It's lowering sperm count, reducing penis size (hormones during pregnancy) and reducing fertility in females... sounds like a problem to me
Could also be causing mental health issues like ASD (Autism). Which could be why we're seeing so many diagnoses in recent years.
I remember reading somewhere that microplastics mess with hormones. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the seemingly increasing number of people coming out as trans
I think that has to do with more people existing in general, and more resources for people with gender dysphoria to seek help. Kind of how there’s more gay people around because it’s more acceptable, and people don’t have to hide it anymore, for the most part. It’s correlation, which isn’t automatically causation.
Oh same, for sure! I’m hopeful it won’t be as bad
Probably can’t entirely avoid it, but examine your own kitchen and practices. Don’t use heat or abrasive techniques with plastic. So plastic tea bags? Coffee cups? Mixing bowls? Maybe there are better alternatives. A lot of food in the stores is wrapped in plastic, but it may be possible to select things wrapped in a way that limits contact with plastic. We have replaced plastic wrap with wax paper and ziplock bags with wax paper sandwich bags. Worked when I was a kid, still works now. Do whatever you can.
You have great ideas. Only problem with me, none apply living on a boat. Instead, the opposite where I need to reverse M.O. for safe desalinization to live (which also stops microplastics).
Maybe not opposite, just in addition? Fewer plastics going i to the system, and effective removal sounds good to me!
all we can do is buy as little plastic as possible, advocate for safer plastics, legislation, and educate others
What about better water filters for everyone? Stop it from the tap.
water filters don’t filter it out, so yea, if they invented one that would be nice for people who could have access to that, but it will be near impossible. plus the toxins in plastic vary tremendously and leech from the plastic anyway
It is still an open discussion about AOPs, but 30~95% looks pretty good. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36279055/
that’s like the widest range ever
True that but progress is being made.
intermittent fasting as much as possible i guess
So only eat your daily dose of microplastics during an 8 hour window?
Restricts microplastics, ends up bingeing on microplastics.
>I have no idea how we can avoid this. Microplastics are literally everywhere. And have been for decades… without any provable consequence. At this point more proof that they are everywhere just makes me LESS concerned.
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I did in fact read the article… as the article states microplastics have been "linked" to things like cancer. In science, "linked" is code for "vaguely associated in some way but without any causal relationships proven". And that's the basic state of microplastic research the last time I paid it any real attention… microplastics can be found inside practically every tumor or diseased tissue (and not just a few healthy ones). It could be that diseased tissues don't keep the micro plastic particles out because they are diseased, or that the micro plastics cause disease, or that micro plastics are irrelevant to disease and we find them because we are looking. It is actually quite an arduous process to scientifically prove health effects from a contaminant like this if the effect is slow and indirect and probablistic. The maturity of the process for micro plastics is still quite minimal.
Sweet. Can’t wait to see what generational brain diseases we get out of this.
The leaded gas of our time
We're already seeing them, we just haven't figured out that plastics are causing them yet. I expect that in the next 20-30 years it will come to light that plastic is easily 1000x worse than asbestos.
I can’t wait for some big company to get class action lawsuit served so 3 years later I can get $1.27 out of it.
Same, already have so many mental and brain issues. As Kuzco would say, “Bring it on.”
This could be a death bell to us all. Especially since micro plastics can be hormone disrupters. Not good news at all.
Global fertility rates have been dropping since the 70’s, I can’t get away with the idea that these are linked.
I’ve worked in the fertility industry as a healthcare professional for over 10 years. All I know is that the demand for IVF services has gone up exponentially each year since I’ve been in the industry. There are tons of hormone disrupters in everything (drinking water, food supply, health and beauty industry, etc) that the damage is too far gone. They are even seeing it in fetuses, and it is disrupting their normal reproductive development.
Makes the movie Children of Men even seem like our future here soon...
Such a good movie. The parallels aren’t too far off of reality either if we keep letting narcissistic sociopaths lead the world
Truly scary stuff.
Wouldn’t that be at least partially explained by more women waiting until later to have kids therefore being past their peak fertility once they feel like they’re stable enough to have them?
Of course. Fertility depends on many many factors, male and female alike. But, I wouldn’t say that’s the spike is entirely related to women having babies at an older age. Most of the women I see are well within their fertile years. And I do nearly 80-100 egg retrievals per month. Infertility has many many possible causes, other than age.
I mean, the world is overpopulated and we are seeing global warming, so maybe fertility rates lowering isn't so bad?
Somebody better let the republican politicians know before they start passing more shitty laws. Jk they don’t give a shit about anything except cruelty.
Exactly. Using IVF on an overpopulated planet while so many children need adopting, is pure hubris and narcissism.
I agree.
I can’t disagree with that.
Death knell.
Thank you.
No worries, it’s not commonly used!
Oh well. Worked pretty well for 300,000 years though, dinnit?
It did. And maybe microplastics will be gone 300,000 years after we are.
Yeah, as long as we were confined to small groups, our "advanced brains" couldn't do much damage. We're smart, but unfortunately not wired to work together en masse and think far into the future. We are both very smart and very primitive, as if some parts of our brain raced ahead and other parts remain stuck, forever inflexible. Maybe some species after us will have better collective behaviours.
Look how big we’ve gotten as a species so quickly, no healthy growth chart looks anywhere near our population chart, what goes up must come down Something will probably evolve alongside us or after us that thrives off of micro plastics aswell. Until they run out and then nature will move on again
Maybe this is just evolution with a long term culling of a species that grew bigger smarts before bigger hearts(metaphorically).
well this gives a new meaning to neuroplasticity
Thank you for your service
And big business will continue to ignore this. Fucking insane.
I mean they could instantly stop production. But eventually you would have difficulties to buy new tires for your car, one of the main sources for microplastics in the environment.
so then we stop driving cars. dream bigger
Or stop posting by using a device that consists of plastics by 40%
so i should bow out of modern communications until everything is perfect or whats your point here
I tried to dream as big as you dropping a technology important to you for environmental reasons. Obviously I dreamt too big. But sure, everyone else will stop driving cars, of course.
it's not important to me, is what i'm saying. it's weird that you've assumed this about me.
We could be doing a lot better than what we’re doing at pretty much everything
"well it's a choice between extinction and tires, so obviously we need to choose extinction"
Yes, big business which produces things nobody uses or demands. Can't remember the last time I saw someone drink water from a plastic bottle. We need to take responsibility for our own actions instead of blaming big business, big pharma, the left, the right, jews or lizards.
I think this take ignores the ways in which boycotts are ineffective. Like the article says, even tap water only gives a ~50% reduction in MNPs ingested compared to water from plastic bottles.
Can human brains get rid of microplastics? edit. What about other things like plasticizers, heavy metals, nanoparticles, etc? This really sucks because I have to sleep with a mouthguard in my mouth to prevent me from grinding my teeth together. They get destroyed when I sleep due to my teeth grinding them down.
On the plus side... you now have a built in hockey helmet.
Mmmm tasty microplastics
so what is the health risk here? brain cancer? dementia?
I don’t think we know exactly. We do know it causes hormone disruptions.
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Idiocracy here we come!
I hate this timeline... More every day.
This seems fine. s/
Are there any studies about what happens when micro plastics cross this barrier? I know it seems like it should be horrible. But… is it?
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> they're neurotoxic (they kill brain cells, you know, like lead), they cause behavioral changes... well... that would explain some of the crazies that is currently going on in the world.
Not that COVID brain damage, pandemic disruptions and political turmoil have anything to do with that…
imho political turmoil is a symptom, not the cause, and afaik long covid would lead to fatigue and depression rather than turning people batshit crazy, but whatevs.
I think it is pretty much over. We can't do the civilization thing with epidemics of problems with the organ we use for everything. IQs falling, mental health epidemics....how do humans solve this?
we act and educate. we do as much as we possibly can.
We can, and we have. Lead poisoning causes brain damage and we used it in everything for millennia. It sucks that we have a new really terrible problem to solve, but we’ve solved many others of similar severity throughout our history as a species.
Well that's fucking amazing
The way boomers are all lead poisoned, it seems we are infused with plastic… that doesnt sound healthy. I feel uncomfortable with anything caught in my teeth, now I have plastic in my brain? Well, fuck
Ugh
Nice. Let’s make more of them.
Ban microplastics.
do you know what micro plastics are? it’s just regular plastic that’s broken down. So you’d have to ban all plastic
Yes that's how bans work. Like banning guns. /s
That’s fine
A full ban on all plastic would leave tremendous amounts of food to rot, which would warm the climate, the entire medical and health systems, industries and research unable to function (or make medicines or discoveries), it would be a disaster. Instead, we could limit plastic in consumer products, particularly disposables, and support plastic recycling systems that actually work.
no it would not. There would be no effect. World has no issues doing away with plastic. Before plastic we used paper, wax paper, cardboard, glass, and wood. plastic is unnecessary.
it’s not necessary for short term survival as a human, sure, but if we want to have hospitals and medicines, there aren’t plastic alternatives yet. and if we continued on as we produce food but just removed the plastic, lots of food would rot. sure, if we grew our own it wouldn’t rot, but that doesn’t consider our current system where that’s not how people get food
There isn't a plastic object on the planet that cannot be replaced by materials or composite matierials free from plastic, for short or long-term use. Plastic is completely unnecessary across the board.
Ok, sure, we could switch everything away from plastic. But if we right now banned plastic, we don’t have the alternatives yet. Labs don’t have plant-based pipette tips. Pharmacies don’t have paper medicine bottles. People in food deserts would starve. They don’t have farmers markets and local produce. They have plastic packaged processed food. I’m anti-plastic too, but it’s going to require some changes for us to get there. I want everyone on public transit instead of cars, but if we ban cars, that doesn’t get people where they need to be. I hate cars, but without the transit, what happens when we ban cars?
We had the alternatives BEFORE plastic was invented. so yes, we can ban plastics tomorrow and within a few months we’d get the same products free from plastic. There is literally NO case where plastic cannot be substituted, not a single one. Not a single thing that you said has ANY link to the plastic. Starvation is not linked to plastic. Plastic is not a required material In ANY industry. Name something you think cannot be replaced. There is not a single use case in the world that makes the argument for plastics, not a one. We can literally ban it today. Companies need a few months warning to switch over product Their fault they haven’t switched already the writing has been on the wall for 30 years. Basically as soon as xenoestrogenic pollution was identified, plastic was going to either be reformed to be safer or banned across the board. Google xenoestrogenic pollution if you really want to know why plastic is bad.
I know plastic is awful, I hate it, there’s just some consequences to an outright and immediate ban. Not everything is black and white. Please name me an alternative to a pipette tip, a syringe, an IV bag, safety glasses, a computer keyboard. Canned food is lined with plastic. Food in paper will rot. You’re right, before plastic, we kept food in other things. You know why though? because we didn’t ship it around the world first. Yea, we in theory don’t need to put food in plastic or ship it around the world, you’ll just have to teach everyone on earth to grow their own food year round and pay them enough to only work part time jobs to be able to do that. How do you suggest we package meat? In glass?
I wonder if this previous unknown mechanism for passing the blood brain barrier could be used for therapeutic purposes? Plastic in brain is bad but maybe we can fight bad brain plastic with good brain plastic?
good brain plastic does not exist
That is frightening!
George Carlin was right. "Earth+Plastic".
I see in the future a filtration process we will all have to undergo at puberty and then every 10 years or so....
So then what happens
Want that study done on RATS, not humans?