Microplastics are moving from the gut to the liver, brain, kidney and lungs – in mice, according to an April study published by Environmental Health Perspectives. It is one in a growing list of studies raising health concerns associated with plastics.
In early April, the Environmental Protection Agency instituted its first-ever limits on PFAS, or forever chemicals, in drinking water, and is requiring local water systems to monitor for them.
As understanding the health impacts of plastics increases, it may be time to rethink individual plastics use whenever purchasing bottled water, soda pop, orange juice or even milk.
Begin looking at the food and drink products purchased each day and the sight of so much plastic can be overwhelming.
“Our life depends upon plastics, beginning with our toothbrush in the morning,” said Jayaraman Sivaguru, a distinguished professor in the department of chemistry at Bowling Green State University.
The leaching of plastics is not a new phenomenon. What is new is a technology that can measure and identify the existence of previously unseen tiny plastic particles in products, such as bottled water. A research team from Columbia University, supported by the National Institutes of Health, developed the approach to detect microplastics and nanoplastics at the single-particle level.
On average, the researchers discovered a liter of bottled water contained about 240,000 pieces of plastic. About 90 percent of these were nanoplastics. Those pieces are 10 to 100 times more than found in earlier studies that focused on larger pieces of microplastics ranging from 5 millimeters to 1 micrometer, or 1/125,000 of an inch, in size. It has been estimated the human body retains about 10 percent of the microplastics ingested. It is not known how much of the nanoplastics is retained.
The repercussions from this evolution in technology bring into question what size of toxic load the human body can carry.
“There is definitely evidence that microplastics are present in human bodily tissues or blood,” said Dr. Chris Hine, of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. “Our exposure to these plastics is not new.”
Dr. Hine underscores the value of water straight from the tap, especially if a home is part of a municipal water system. He said those in rural areas using well water should be monitoring the quality of the water insofar as plastics, PFAS, coliform bacteria, and nitrates from fertilizers are concerned.
Research studies on the bodily effects of microplastics and nanoplastics are still in the early stages, but concerning.
“A recent, well-publicized study found a correlation between microplastics and nanoplastics in the blood and an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death, underscoring the potential human health threat,” said Lauren Maziarz, an associate professor of public health at Bowling Green State University. She advocates that public policies should be enacted now.
“Public health policy should be shifting towards precautionary principles, where policies on microplastics are enacted before proven health concerns are documented, versus our current reactionary approach, where human health concerns must be well-documented and vetted before regulation or policy modification,” she said.
Ms. Maziarz acknowledges that the ubiquity of microplastics makes it challenging to regulate. However, problems from worldwide pollution are resulting in lawmakers looking at the entire life cycle of products.
“While the research is evolving, public policy is starting to focus on regulating microplastics across the product life-cycle from the point of production ... and end-of-life policies that regulate disposal and recycling to prevent leaching into the environment,” she said.
For instance, Starbucks has announced it is the first coffee retailer in the country willing to fill clean personal cups for its customers.
“As we know, the most sustainable cup is likely the one you already own,” said Kate Daly, managing director and head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “Bringing your own cup to stores is a critical step toward reducing single-use packaging waste. Starbucks is a leader in this work, as the first national retailer of scale to offer personal cup ordering in every channel, including mobile order.”
The company is also using a new formula for its cold cups that uses 10 percent to 20 percent less plastic.
At BGSU, Mr. Sivaguru has created a bioplastic from vanillin, a chemical found in the extract of vanilla beans. It degrades when exposed to a specific wavelength of ultraviolet light not detectable to the human eye.
“We are generating these plastics and the pieces are derived from bio resources rather than fossil fuels,” he said of his copyrighted process. “Basic science is critical to driving a solution.”
His bioplastic is created with the concept of building with Legos in mind. Create a bioplastic product, such as a bottle, then, in the recycling process, the whole can be broken down into its individual “blocks,” and rebuilt into something else. It is a cycle that could result in an endless loop. He reports that his process is 65 percent to 70 percent efficient and he is aiming for 100 percent.
In Ohio, a state that was been ranked by the Plastics Industry Association as #1 in the country for plastics manufacturing in 2022, there is much interest in new bioplastics.
“We have a lot of plastic industry here, and they are looking for new solutions to making better plastics. That is a huge positive for us,” Mr. Sivaguru said. “We have to be cognizant of the problems down the line.”
Of course, recycling is key. Of the 40 million tons of plastic waste generated in the United States, only 5 percent to 6 percent was recycled in 2021, according to the World Economic Forum.
Mr. Sivaguru said he is confident in future generations' desire to complete the product loop.
“The next generation of kids is way more aware. I am very optimistic,” he said of such efforts.
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