We recently wrote about the pervasiveness of plastics not only in our environment, but also in our bodies.
However, as ominous as we thought things were at the time we wrote those words, more-recent revelations by scientists across the globe have revealed that nano-plastics are coursing not only through every tissue and organ in our bodies, but in every living thing on the planet.
Plastics have been found in even the remotest, most pristine areas of the globe — and are increasing in their concentration year-by-year.
Plastics, which are derived from petroleum, are used in just about everything that we take for granted in modern life. The air we breathe in our homes contains six times more plastic particles than the outside air thanks to the use of chemical plastic products in our clothing, furniture, and rugs.
In short, everything we eat, drink, or use contains plastics.
Some of the recent findings by scientists include the revelation that human brain tissues have been found to have the equivalent of a plastic-spoon’s worth of plastic in them, with newer samples containing far more plastic than those from 20 years ago.
In addition, plastics have been found in the human reproductive organs and in breast milk, which means that every child born today is laden with plastic right from birth.
Having plastics in our bodies is bad enough, but it is estimated that the plastics industry uses thousands of chemicals to make its plastic products — which means that the nanoplastics lodged in our bodies are leaching these chemicals into us as they break down inside us.
Thanks to the vast scope of the problem, no study yet has been able to establish a definitive link between plastics in our bodies and the increase in health issues that have confounded health experts, including the increases in colon cancer in young persons, higher rates of lung cancer among non-smokers, decreased fertility in both men and women, and the increase in auto-immune diseases.
However, given that many of the chemical compounds that are used to make plastics have been found to adversely affect human health, it is not a stretch to believe that the build-up of plastics in our bodies is a major contributor to the health issues that have arisen in recent years.
But here’s the really bad news: Plastics in our environment are increasing every year — and there is nothing any of us can do to decrease our exposure.