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‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 months ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/world@lemmy.world

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say the discoveries are probably the result of contamination and false positives. One chemist called the concerns “a bombshell”.

Studies claiming to have revealed micro and nanoplastics in the brain, testes, placentas, arteries and elsewhere were reported by media across the world, including the Guardian. There is no doubt that plastic pollution of the natural world is ubiquitous, and present in the food and drink we consume and the air we breathe. But the health damage potentially caused by microplastics and the chemicals they contain is unclear, and an explosion of research has taken off in this area in recent years.

However, micro- and nanoplastic particles are tiny and at the limit of today’s analytical techniques, especially in human tissue. There is no suggestion of malpractice, but researchers told the Guardian of their concern that the race to publish results, in some cases by groups with limited analytical expertise, has led to rushed results and routine scientific checks sometimes being overlooked.

The Guardian has identified seven studies that have been challenged by researchers publishing criticism in the respective journals, while a recent analysis listed 18 studies that it said had not considered that some human tissue can produce measurements easily confused with the signal given by common plastics.

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[–] CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I’d be curious what the values are. There’s a lot of variation based on how the plastic is formed and treated. E.g. abrasion causes a lot of shedding. It’s possible that heading and washing can also cause degradation.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Those values are probably the key points. I know from experience that they shed less and less over time, but I have no means to put numbers to that.

[–] Paragone@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

from what I've read, most of the particles of ultra-fine plastics are dryer lint, which really are sooo damn small, that they can get into everything.

It's sorta like those researchers who went into a city, to get pollen-samples from the air, & ..couldn't find any, among all the tire-particles their filters caught..

IF there's an absolutely-pervasive population of particles, then .. they could actually be expected to get into everything..

now I even remember some arctic researchers, who woke-up to black snow: coal-soot from China ( pollen identified where it was from )

The finest particles travel

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