Levels of Microplastics in Human Brains May Be Rapidly Rising, Study Suggests (theguardian.com) 53
The exponential rise in microplastic pollution over the past 50 years may be reflected in increasing contamination in human brains, according to a new study. From a report: It found a rising trend in micro- and nanoplastics in brain tissue from dozens of postmortems carried out between 1997 and 2024. The researchers also found the tiny particles in liver and kidney samples. The human body is widely contaminated by microplastics. They have also been found in blood, semen, breast milk, placentas and bone marrow. The impact on human health is largely unknown, but they have been linked to strokes and heart attacks.
The scientists also found that the concentration of microplastics was about six times higher in brain samples from people who had dementia. However, the damage dementia causes in the brain would be expected to increase concentrations, the researchers said, meaning no causal link should be assumed. "Given the exponentially rising environmental presence of micro- and nanoplastics, this data compels a much larger effort to understand whether they have a role in neurological disorders or other human health effects," said the researchers, who were led by Prof Matthew Campen at the University of New Mexico in the US.
The scientists also found that the concentration of microplastics was about six times higher in brain samples from people who had dementia. However, the damage dementia causes in the brain would be expected to increase concentrations, the researchers said, meaning no causal link should be assumed. "Given the exponentially rising environmental presence of micro- and nanoplastics, this data compels a much larger effort to understand whether they have a role in neurological disorders or other human health effects," said the researchers, who were led by Prof Matthew Campen at the University of New Mexico in the US.
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Mother of all Irony (Score:2)
That would be the mother of all irony if GOP-fueled pollution turned out to be a major cause of LGBTQ+. GOPpers would lose their religious excuse to treat them like shit.
Re: Mother of all Irony (Score:1)
How so?
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Because it would be the conservative polluters' own doing, not Satan's temptations.
(But I'm sure they'll invent a way to hate anyhow. The "magic" of religion is that you can bend it any way you want and there's no way to prove it wrong.)
Re: Mother of all Irony (Score:1)
Yeah it was just god "working through them" blah blah blah. Come on, you know better.
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Aliens in the future: ... (Score:1)
... they were extinguished by eating plastics?
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Wouldn't it be funny if it looked like a mushroom cloud....
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Wouldn't it be funny if it looked like a mushroom cloud....
Turns out it was a fractal mushroom cloud all along.
No "may be" about it (Score:5, Insightful)
The plastic doesn't disappear and it's still mass produced, we will be seeing higher levels.
And no one of consequence is doing anything seriously about it.
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What is the entry vector(s)?
Re:No "may be" about it (Score:5, Informative)
Air, water, food, literally everything.
Re:No "may be" about it [in everything] (Score:1)
Too bad the dude in the Whitehouse is not a chemophobe but instead of a germaphobe.
Re:No "may be" about it (Score:5, Informative)
Every time you use a plastic scrubbie on your pots and pans, you are creating microplastics.
Everytime you wash and dry clothes made from synthetic materials, you are creating microplastics.
Any time you break a piece of plastic, you are creating microplastics.
All of the above, and more, gets into our water sources which leads to the foods we eat, not to mention that which gets into the air we breathe.
As the other poster said, literally everything.
Re:No "may be" about it (Score:5, Interesting)
I believe most microplastics are released by people sanding boats and cars. Have you ever sanded Bondo/filler/fairing compound? It's polyester. Catalyzed polyester just like your poly pajamas, but it's used for shaping and fairing before painting. Most builders sand off about 3/4ths of what they mix up and apply.
For boat yards, which are near waterways, this is often done in the open air. Car shops generally (are supposed to use) filters to pick up sanding residue, but most of them just do it outside and let the wind blow it away.
Having done both, I can't imagine a more potent or available form of plastics in the environment. There's also quite a bit of magnesium carbonate mixed in there to make it easy to sand, so a lot of the dust is just chalk. But the bonding agent is polyester.
If you want to see some people with neurological damage, look no further than your local bodyshop.
I don't know if pot scrubbers contribute more than the paint/coatings industry.
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I believe most microplastics are released by people sanding boats and cars.
Nope, laundry. Synthetic fibers cause much more microplastics. Build some sort of filter that scales from personal to industrial washers and driers, get the government to mandate them, and you can make a lot of money.
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I believe most microplastics are released by people sanding boats and cars.
Here you are on the internet, with all the research at your fingertips, and you just can't be bothered.... Beliefs are not facts, you fucking clown.
According to current research, the largest source of microplastics is synthetic textiles, specifically microfibers shed during laundry from clothes like polyester and acrylic; this is considered the primary contributor to microplastic pollution in the environment, making up a significant portion of the microplastics found in oceans and waterways.
Another maj
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or everytime you have to throw out a PC because Microsoft switched to a DRM OS.
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Where it comes from (Score:1)
A lot of plastic waste ends up in waterways and the ocean, where the environment gradually breaks it down into smaller and smaller particles that wash around the world and into anything and everything we get from the ground. Some were even found on top of Everest, suggesting the particles are in wind and/or rain.
We accidentally invented reverse "God Goo" (also known as Gray Goo).
Wondering... (Score:1)
How we'll be able to differentiate between AI and some of the anonymous cowards who post the same crap here year after year.
And levels of intelligence is dropping rapidly (Score:3)
I know correlation isn't causation but damn what a coincidence. The more plastic that we use, the dumber it is that we get. Weird, huh?
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It's not that microplastics are the blame there, it's that stupid people reproduce at a much higher rate than intelligent people.
Re: And levels of intelligence is dropping rapidly (Score:2)
Is the differentiator intelligence, or education? And is there a verified statistic you can point to or is this mere supposition?
It does satisfy the wishes of some of the statement was shown to be true, but wishing does not make it so.
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just about anyone who says that got their data from the intro segment of idiocracy
of course its the latter but it's not as masturbatory to say (plus it lets you do nothing to solve the problem)
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They are not mutually exclusive. Many factors may be making people dumber.
The Future Is Morons!
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Dr Lexus (Score:2)
Don't worry Scro, plenty of tards are out there living kick-ass lives.
That debate about correlation/causation again... (Score:2)
From the fine summary:
The impact on human health is largely unknown, but they have been linked to strokes and heart attacks.
The scientists also found that the concentration of microplastics was about six times higher in brain samples from people who had dementia.
Strokes, heart attacks, and dementia sound like things correlated to age and poor health. People that are older would have had more time alive to accumulate micro-plastics in their body. People in poor health might be eating more food, lower quality food, have plastic hoses feeding them fluids by IV, air into their lungs, or whatever, or some combination of the above.
I'm seeing enough reason to believe that there's some underlying cause to the symptoms seen beside the level of plasti
This will probably be addressed (Score:4, Interesting)
The wealthy can escape climate change. To the elites, it's an academic problem that affects other people. They can move to wherever they want, and there will always be beachfront property somewhere to develop. I have very little hope that this problem will be addressed anytime soon.
Microplastics are different. Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping probably have just as many microplastics in their brains as the guy who works the counter at the local gas station, and they can't escape it. This problem just might get addressed.
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Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping probably have just as many microplastics in their brains...
And, they'll be in charge...just like those who drank from lead-lined chalises.
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Yes, but it just might make them more maniacal instead of caring.
One theory is Rome fell because increasing lead use made everybody mad.
Nah (Score:2)
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You can make a cube air purifier for less than $100 with no extra tools but caulk, cardboard, and scissors. The foods we consider best and healthiest are still full of microplastics (and not prohibitively expensive for most people, anyway). And a good solid ceramic+carbon water filter costs ~$50 and the filter can be changed every year or two.
The difference is not that the rich will be immune, but that the rich person's air filter will be quieter, and not taking up as much space (relatively). The rich perso
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The romans and lead water pipes (Score:2)
Hopefully microplastics are mostly benign. If I has some latent effect to diminish our intelligence, we could be looking at a second dark ages or worse.
Tetra ethyl lead gasoline additives came close in recent history.
Could this be a great filter?
Queue $ to confuse the causes (Score:1)
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> Queue
You mean they're lining up for it?
I drank from a pet bottle that was warmed (Score:3)
I had a PET bottle of water stored for a week on a high shelf where hot air collects. Unfortunately it had a very strong taste of burned plastic but I swallowed it. It was horrible. I can only imagine this is exactly what you don't want to do.
Brain plasticity (Score:3)
That's a good thing, right?
It's now a known unknown (Score:1)
I would throw more science at it. All we know now is that the junk is within and without us at an increasing rate. What we clearly do not yet know is what effect it is having on living things, especially humans. My gut feel is we need to science that shit ASAP, and I would not be surprised of we will need to start remediating it but given how handy the plastics are, I dunno.
Feels like we need Dr. Who to come and once again save us from the plastic monster. Maybe the Bad Wolf can help.