Human beings created a "eternal" material with science, and after use, they wanted to throw it away completely.But at present, this seems impossible. It does not "leave", and each piece of plastic that was once created is still with us.
Written article | Zhu Ye Hua
When we were young, adults often warned us that "do not swallow gum, and we will stick to the intestines." Of course, we all know that the gum that swallowed by mistake will leave our body with the feces.
Many modern gums are made of synthetic rubber. According to our previous article "Eat a credit card every week: Must be done hard work", gum also contains plastic.The plastic is not digested, and it is "through the intestines", just pull it out.However, things don’t seem to be so simple.Although plastic bags or plastic water bottles in the environment will be decomposed to the degree of no longer hindrance, small fragments will still be intake by animals and humans.In fact, micro -plastic has been found in the body of fish and mammals, and now new studies have found that micro -plastic is pervasive, and its traces have also been found in human placenta.
For the first time in human placenta, micro -plastic
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On October 23, 2018, researchers at the Vienna Medical University announced at the European Gastrointestinal Disease Conference that the existence of micro -plastic was detected in human feces, and micro -plastic entered the gastrointestinal tract of human gastrointestinals.A survey result of micro -plastic content in Beijing’s young people’s feces also found that micro -plastic generally exists in the subject’s feces [1].
In August 2020, a more amazing discovery was exposed at the annual meeting of the American Chemistry Society: the existence of micro -plastic in the samples of human lungs, liver, spleen, and kidney tissue [2].This discovery confirms that after entering the human body, it is not only the past and staying of the digestive system, and they will also "penetrate" into other organizations.What makes people never expect is that these "penetration" organizations also include human placenta.
In January 2021, a study published by ENVIRONMENT International provides a "iron certificate" for plastic "capturing" human placenta.Researchers analyzed the placenta of 6 healthy women aged 18 to 40. 4 of the six placenta found the existence of micro -plastic. A total of 12 spherical or irregular micro -plastic fragments were detected.5 ~ 10 μm (similar to the size of red blood cells), 5 of which are located in the placenta part connected to the fetus, 4 particles are located in the part connected to the mother’s uterus, and 3 particles are located in the cell membrane surrounded by the fetus.Of the 12 fragments, 3 were clearly identified as polypropylene (plastic bottle and bottle cap are made of this material), and the remaining 9 were identified as coating materials.Cream, body milk, binder fragments, etc.The study was approved by the Ethics Commission, and researchers collected placenta by ensuring that the placenta would not contact any plastic appliances or tools in the outside world [3].
The above studies revealed that micro -plastic is not only existed in the surrounding environment, but also commonly exists in human body. How do these micro -plastic enter the human body and how much is the harm to health after entering the human body?
Various ways to enter the human body into the human body
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Micro -plastic size is small, and most of them are not visible, but this does not prevent them from lurking around us.In simple terms, as long as we breathe and eat, micro -plastic will find the opportunity to sneak into the human body.
In May 2019, the World Wildlife Foundation entrusted the University of Newcastle, Australia to evaluate the amount of micro -plastic considering micro -plastic from nature from nature.After researchers analyzed and comprehensively, after the existing literature on human intake of plastic, it estimated that people took about 2,000 miniature plastic particles per week, which was the weight of a credit card.These tiny particles have a variety of sources, including artificial clothing fiber, toothpaste or facial cleanser, or the decomposition of larger plastic slices [4].
Among the 52 studies calculated by the University of Newcastle, 33 have studied plastic consumption in food and drinks.These studies focus on a series of common foods and beverages containing micro -plastic, such as drinking water, beer, shellfish and salt.Water is the largest source of human plastic intake of micro -plastic. Ordinary people can consume up to 1769 plastic by drinking bottled water or faucet only every week.Shellfish is the second largest source of plastic intake, with an average of 182 particles (0.5 grams) per person per week.
The third largest way to enter the human body is breathing inhalation.The study surveyed 16 papers on outdoor and indoor air quality.It was found that plastic pollution in indoor air was seriously outdoors.This is because the indoor air cycle is limited, and synthetic textiles and home dust are one of the most important sources of micro -plastic in the air.This estimation is very conservative, but it also implies a fact that micro -plastic exposed in the air may largely depend on local conditions and lifestyle [5].
In addition to the intake of air inhalation and conventional diet, there are more unexpected ways, and they are out of human cognition.
In 2019, Canadian chemical engineer Nathalie Tufenkji discovered the cruel facts about tea bags: drinking tea bag = drinking plastic!They will buy the four brands of tea (two are nylon materials, and the two are PET materials) after soaking in hot water for 5 minutes.Plastic micrometers and 3.1 billion nanoplastics microcontrollers are also detected. A small amount of heavy metal substances such as arsenic, aluminum, lead and chromium are also detected [6].
In October 2020, a study published on Nature Food was tested for 10 polypropylene bottle accounted for two -thirds of the global bottle market. It was found that the polypropylene bottle will release a high level during brewing formula milk.There is a strong correlation between micro -plastic, and the temperature and micro -plastic release. The liquid with higher temperature (formula milk powder or water used to disinfect the bottle) will cause more micro -plastic release.Specific data shows that the heated liquid heated per liter of polypropylene bottle can release 1.3 million to 16 million micro -plastic and tens of trillions of nano -plastic.Other polypropylene plastic products (kettles, lunch boxes) will also release micro -plastic particles similar to levels.
Figure: Polypropylene bottle without bisphenol A 丨 Source: amazon.com
The research team also conducted a global survey and estimated that the 12 -month -old baby in 48 regions was in contact with micro -plastic.According to the current preparation guide for disinfection and feeding recipes, the average daily contact volume of infants exceeds 1 million micro -plastic.Oceania, North America, and Europe have the highest levels of contact, with 2.1 million, 2.28 million and 2.61 million micro -plastic per day.
These numbers seem to be awake, but scientists still say that the value of human intake of plastic in the plastic may be underestimated due to the restrictions of methods and data.
How harmful to the human body to the human body?
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Human knowledge on the impact of micro -plastic on ocean and freshwater biology and ecosystems is continuously expanding, but there is still a huge gap in the knowledge of contacting micro -plastic on what impact of human health may have.
In 1998, an article published on the Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prevention stated that researchers found inhaled cellulose and plastic fiber in human lungs.The specimen of lung cancer and non -tumor lung tissue used in this study is derived from patients with pulmonary tumor resection.Scientists use layer hoods to block the pollution of foreign fibers and plastic, and found that they can repeatedly observe the existence of heterogeneous fibers in these fresh lung tissues.Check the pathological slices of lung tissue with polarized light, and find that these inhaled heterogeneous fibers are cellulose and plastic fibers.Researchers speculate that micro -plastic inhaled in the lungs may be derived from the air [8].
Plastic itself is an inert substance. In order to increase its flexibility, hardness and heat resistance, it also makes the color of the plastic more colorful. Many industrial and daily products made of plastic contain chemicals that can interfere with hormones.—— Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCS), these substances will have a long-term impact on human health.
According to conservative estimates, there are currently more than 1,000 EDCS used.The known endocrine interference from the plastic and threatened health is bisphenol A (BPA), flame retardants, phthalate, ultraviolet stabilizers, and toxic metals such as lead and cadmium.Plastics containing EDCS are widely used in buildings, flooring, food packaging, cooking utensils, children’s toys, leisure supplies, furniture, household appliances, textiles, cars and cosmetics.A report released by the International Endocrine Association in 2020 revealed that many plastics we used at home and at work every day make us expose to the harmful mixture of endocrine interference chemicals [9].
EDCS will "escape" from micro -plastic and expose to the crowd.In the entire life cycle of plastic products, EDCS has general contact with the human body.The detection of human samples unanimously shows that almost all the detected human body has EDCS.They can also combine and accumulate toxic chemicals in the surrounding environment, such as seawater and sediments, and serve as vectors with toxic compounds.
In 2019, researchers at Peking University studied the estimation results of the burden of disease burden caused by the three diseases of Chinese people, male infertility, adult obesity, and diabetes caused by the exposure of phthalate exposure.In 2010 alone, the incidence of male infertility, adult obesity and diabetic diseases caused by the exposure of phthalate chemicals in China was about 2.5 million, and medical costs were about 57.2 billion yuan;The impact of phenyl acid ester on male infertility is the most significant, followed by adult obesity and diabetes [10].
Source: unsplash.com
With the increase of plastic production and use, the contact between humans and plastic is also increasing.Due to the complexity of micro -plastic, we still know very little about its journey in the environment and its impact on the organisms and ecosystems. We need to conduct further research to determine the distribution mode of micro -plastic in the environment and its humanity to humans to humans.The influence of health.
references
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s0048969720378761.
[2] https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2020/august/micro-nd-nanoplastics-detectable-in-tissues.html .html .html .html .html .html.
[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s016041202032297.
[4] https://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/plastic_ingestion_web_spreads.pdf.
[5] https://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/plastic_ingestion_web_spreads.pdf.
[6] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.EST.9B02540.
[7] https://www.nature.com/articleS/s43016-020-00171- y.
[8] https://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/7/5/419.
[9] https://www.ndocrine.org//media/ndocrine/files/topics/edc_guide_2020_v1_6chqennew-pdf .pdf.
[10] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s0048969719302852″!..
