text| science wormhole
Related data show that in the world, the average person eats about 5 grams of plastic every week, which is equivalent to the weight of a credit card.
Some friends may wonder: I am not stupid enough to stuff plastic into my mouth, how can I eat it? Wormhole tells everyone that this involves a concept: microplastics .
Microplastics everywhere
"Microplastics" refers to plastic fragments and particles with a diameter of less than 5 mm. Some microplastics have a particle size of only a few microns. There are countless microplastics around us, but they are difficult to detect with the naked eye and can only be observed with the help of microscopes and other equipment.
A paper published in Science pointed out that in some remote areas of the western United States, about 1,000 tons or more of plastic dust are dropped each year, equivalent to 300 million plastic bottles.
These micro plastic particles are not easy to clean up, and are easy to spread. With natural forces and human activities, they are scattered all over the world.
Moreover, microplastics are not only distributed in crowded cities, but also spread to mountains, rivers, lakes and seas. Even , the white snow of the Arctic continent, and Mount Everest, the top of the world, are infiltrated by it.
The scientific research team collected some seawater samples from 71 locations in the Arctic.The results show that there are about 40 microplastic particles per cubic meter of water. Later, some people found tiny plastic particles in the snow in the Arctic.
Richard C. Thompson, the creator of the microplastics concept, collected some snow and stream samples on Mount Everest. Analysis showed that 3 out of all snow samples and stream water samples had microplastics.
Even the top of the sparsely populated world and the Arctic Circle are occupied by microplastics, not to mention cities where a large number of humans gather? In fact, microplastics have already begun to invade our bodies.
How do microplastics enter the human body?
In 2018, the Medical University of Vienna announced a study in which they found microplastic particles in human feces. This means that microplastics have entered the human intestine.
In addition, there have been surveys on the content of microplastics in the feces of young people in Beijing, and it is found that the feces of the subjects basically contain microplastics.
So, how did microplastics enter the human body? Drinking water is the way for humans to take in the most microplastics .
It is understood that shoes, ties, tires, etc. will fall off "dust" and form microplastics. At the same time, plastic waste will become more and more finely divided under the sun exposure.These microplastics may enter the drinking water.
Before the drinking water is officially put on the market, a lot of microplastics are treated in advance, but in many countries, the quality of drinking water is not up to standard. In addition, if there are plastic products in the treatment equipment, the microplastics may also enter the drinking water.
mussels
In addition to drinking water, humans also consume when eating. Many foods including salt and beer contain many microplastics.
mussels are also known as " mussels ". They have delicious meat and high nutritional value. At the same time, it is also considered as a biological indicator of microplastic pollution.
A 2008 study showed that microplastics not only appear in the cells of blue mussels, but also enter their circulatory system.
Many marine animals have ingested microplastics. When we eat these shellfish and other foods, we also eat microplastics.
The circulation of microplastics in the food chain
There is another way that microplastics enter the human body, which is very simple and rude, that is: breathing.
As mentioned earlier, microplastics are everywhere, you may not be able to detect them, but it does surround you. As long as we breathe, they may enter the body along the nose and mouth.
Finally,There are also chemical engineers who found that "drinking tea bags = drinking plastic". They randomly purchased 4 brands of tea bags. After soaking them for a few minutes, countless microplastics appeared in the tea.
even penetrates into the placenta
Microplastics in our body do not simply go through the process of "eating and expelling", they will also penetrate into human tissues.
In 2020, an announcement was made at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society that microplastics were detected in human liver and other tissue samples.
In addition, a study by "International Environment" shows that the human placenta cannot escape the influence of microplastics. Scientists analyzed the placentas of 6 healthy women aged 18-40 and found that 4 of them had microplastics.
These microplastic particles are no more than 10 microns (about 0.01 mm) in size, and are likely to come from product packaging and personal care products used by the mother's daily use. The research leader of
said that the presence of microplastics in the placenta may have a negative effect on the development of the fetus, such as slowing down growth, changing gene expression, and so on.
The entry of microplastics into the human body is undoubtedly worrying. In particular, there is still a big gap in our knowledge of the hazards of microplastics.
The impact of microplastics
How much harm does microplastics cause to the human body,It is still in the research stage, but according to related papers, it is known that microplastics may cause vascular embolization , kidney and digestive system damage, and carcinogenic mutations to the human body.
Compared with general non-degradable plastics, microplastics are more harmful to the environment, mainly reflected in the tiny particles.
It follows ocean currents and air currents and is distributed around the world, polluting the air, food, and water sources, and threatening the survival of marine life.
Generally speaking, large pieces of plastic garbage, such as straws and plastic bags, restrict the movement of marine animals and cause trauma to their bodies. The impact of microplastics is more reflected internally.
The microplastics that animals eat cannot be digested. If they stay in the stomach, they may cause disease or death; if the microplastics are organically contaminated, the condition of these animals will be worse.
It is very difficult to monitor microplastic pollution, because in addition to discarded plastic products, the items we usually use may also fall off microplastics.
Moreover, these microplastics are more difficult to find and collect than ordinary plastic waste. What we can do at present is to optimize the treatment of drinking water, minimize the use of disposable plastic products, and require official implementation of regulatory measures.
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