Microplastics are preproduction plastic pellets or fragments of plastic that measure less than five millimeters. Scientists, health experts, and the general public are currently engaged in an active dialogue about their increasing importance. These tiny particles, often compared in size to a grain of rice, are increasingly found in the air, food, and water that people consume daily. Researchers are learning just how widespread these microplastics are in human bodies. As they share more results, the public’s fears over harmful health effects only seem to increase.
Dr. Cassandra Rauert, a pioneer in researching the health impacts of microplastics, has found some troubling proof. These microplastics have now made their way into human blood, urine, brain tissue, and breast milk. The microplastics might still be the subject of inquiry, she argued, but the toxic chemicals they transport represent a known danger. Additive chemicals are included during the manufacturing process, or plastics may be able to absorb up chemicals present in the environment. So when you’re exposed to these plastics, you’re exposed to these chemicals directly,” she explains.
Microplastics aren’t the only worry, there’s an even smaller category known as nanoplastics. These microplastics are even tinier and entirely imperceptible to the naked eye. The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concerns regarding inconsistent testing methods for microplastics within the human body, urging scientists to standardize their approaches. This inconsistency makes it difficult to know what effects microplastics have on human health.
Professor Oliver Jones, a chemist at RMIT University who studies environmental contaminants including microplastics, remarks on the legal obligations manufacturers face regarding product safety. “And so manufacturers have to do those tests by law to get their products on sale,” he indicates. These tests unapologetically force companies to prove that any leaching of toxic chemicals is at levels safely below regulatory thresholds. Jones notes that there is still a lot of misinformation currently being spread about microplastics.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand has asserted that small quantities of microplastics in food and drink are unlikely to harm human health. Jones and Rauert both know that microplastics leach toxic chemicals into our food and water. This is particularly so when they are heated. Just like a plastic water bottle left in the sun, chemicals can leach out. These unhealthy pollutants seep into any water the plastic collects.
Though fears over microplastics have spiked recently in the popular discourse, Rauert urges not to make premature interpretations based on alarmist studies. What gets the headlines are studies where they use super high doses we would never come across,” she says. I’m sorry, Rog, but science doesn’t operate on feelings or likes or vibes or winks and nods and guns or whatever. It’s based on evidence,” adds Jones.
Even with the latest studies, both experts were clear that we know very little about how ingesting microplastics will impact human health. Rauert expresses this uncertainty: “So after we ingest them, can they then cross through the gut–blood barrier, get into our bloodstream? We still don’t have a good handle on that.” She goes on to explain that while we can’t avoid this exposure, what happens next is still a mystery. Yet we do not have a good mechanism to trace where it goes in the body. In some ways, we don’t know what its effects are, she claims.
Australia’s Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is currently evaluating new research on microplastics. Their intention is to develop new, more comprehensive public health guidance sometime this year. This federal initiative is an encouraging sign that the need for more in-depth research and guidelines surrounding microplastics is finally being acknowledged.
At an individual level, Rauert advocates for reducing exposure to microplastics, starting with what’s in your control. Human bodies can’t easily break down solid chunks of plastic. Now you see why reducing the amount of plastic that we eat or drink is a great first step. In her blog, she warns of potential connections between microwaving food and infertility. She cautions that more research is needed to make any direct links.
