Plastic Component Found In Human Organs

BY admin August 26, 2020 Health ، Human 6 views

Plastic pollution creating microplastics is a growing concern for human health as emerging studies find them everywhere from drinking water to in fish, seafood and birds. Just today a new study was published showing the Atlantic ocean contains more plastic than previously thought.

Plastic pollution creating microplastics is a growing concern for human health as emerging studies find them everywhere from drinking water to in fish, seafood and birds. Just today a new study was published showing the Atlantic ocean contains more plastic than previously thought. Last year, the World Health Organization urgently called for more research into the health impacts of microplastics and a crack down on plastic pollution, with a spokesperson saying “they are everywhere.”

Now another new study presented yesterday at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting has found evidence of chemicals from plastics inside human organs and developed a new method for detecting microplastics in human tissue samples.

“You can find plastics contaminating the environment at virtually every location on the globe and in a few short decades, we’ve gone from seeing plastic as a wonderful benefit to considering it a threat,” says Charles Rolsky from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, who presented the work at the meeting. “There’s evidence that plastic is making its way into our bodies, but very few studies have looked for it there,” he added.

Scientists define microplastics as plastic fragments less than 5 mm, about 0.2 inches, in diameter. Nanoplastics are even smaller, with diameters less than 0.001 mm.

Much previous research on microplastics and nanoplastics have focused on its accumulation and effects in marine life, with particular focus on seafood that humans consume. Microplastics have been associated with neurotoxic effects in wild fish and increase oxidative damage which can theoretically lead to a greater risk of cancer. Some studies have also suggested that microplastics have no permanent effect on some fish, simply passing through their digestive tracts. They have also been found in insects and birds.

However, very little is known about the health effects on human tissues.

“At this point, we don’t know whether this plastic is just a nuisance or whether it represents a human health hazard,” said Rolsky.

Humans do ingest microplastics and they do at least pass through the digestive system, as evidenced by the finding that they were widely found in fecal samples from people all over the world. However, very little is known about whether they go elsewhere in the body after ingestion or what health effects they have, if any, on humans.

To look at this, Rolsky and colleagues accessed human tissue samples from a large repository which was set up to study neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and developed a new method to test the samples for plastics.They looked at 47 samples from 24 individuals, taken from organs likely to be exposed to or filter microplastics; the lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys. They artificially spiked the samples with microplastics to test their new method and were able to detect the plastics. The scientists hope that their new technique can now be used to look for genuine plastic contaminants in human tissues in the future.

“It would be naive to believe there is plastic everywhere but just not in us,” said Rolf Halden, the leader of the work at Arizona State University. “We are now providing a research platform that will allow us and others to look for what is invisible – these particles too small for the naked eye to see. The risk [to health] really resides in the small particles,” he added.

However, the team also found genuine traces of Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to make some plastics, in every sample from every individual tested.

So should people be concerned about this finding?

 “We never want to be alarmist, but it is concerning that these non-biodegradable materials that are present everywhere can enter and accumulate in human tissues, and we don’t know the possible health effects,” said Varun Kelkar, a graduate student at ASU who was also presenting the work. “Once we get a better idea of what’s in the tissues, we can conduct epidemiological studies to assess human health outcomes. That way, we can start to understand the potential health risks, if any,” he added.

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