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This gives a whole new meaning to the term "junk food". This week, a study found that tiny plastic particles had been found in stool samples from eight people from countries like the UK.
It's only a matter of time before the ubiquitous packaging reaches the top of the food chain: the plastic has been identified in fish, water, the beer and honey. We are grinding our meals with our dear sea salt. It's in the microbeads, now banned in the UK, that are commonly found in our skincare products and even in our toothpastes. It is also in the air that the tire dust releases it and that our clothes are released by a tumble dryer before settling on dinner plates.
Scientists are not particularly shocked by the latest discoveries. "We know that microplastics are endemic in the environment, in the consumer products we all use and in many species of animals that we consume directly or indirectly. It would therefore be more surprising that they did not detect microplastics in human stools, "says Dr. Peter Jenkins, a consultant toxicologist. "The biggest question is whether there is an effect on health."
Unknown implications
Scientists are divided on the health risk of microplastics in our digestive system. Can these nanofibers enter our blood and lymphatic system and spread throughout our body?
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"This particularly concerns … patients with gastrointestinal diseases ", says Philipp Schwabl, who led the study. "Although the highest concentrations of plastic studied in animals have been found in the intestine, the smallest microplastic particles are able to penetrate the bloodstream, the lymphatic system and can even reach the liver."
But Dr. Stephanie Wright, a college researcher at King's College London, warns that the study has limitations. "The study does not tell us if something is absorbed or accumulates in the body. It is difficult to badess its impact on health, "she says.
"It has been proved that starch particles pbad through the intestinal wall of man. However, the rate of this occurrence is very low, and it is not known if this is true for plastics in humans.
"Perhaps more of a concern is whether badociated chemical contaminants leach out during the pbadage of the intestine and accumulate in the tissues."
Smaller than the width of the a hair
Every year, about eight million tons of plastic waste. ends in our oceans, where it is broken down into tiny particles. Plastic was found in 114 aquatic species, from plankton to whales. In birds, plastic has been shown to damage the intestinal wall, affect iron absorption and stress the liver. It seems that even with a radical food overhaul, these plastics are hard to avoid. The pilot study, conducted by the Vienna Medical University, involved stool samples from three men and five women aged 33 to 65 years. They came from Europe (Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Russia and the United Kingdom) and from Japan. .
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Six of the eight participants ate seafood, two chewing gums. They all consumed plastic-wrapped foods during the week-long experience and drank bottled water. More important studies will be needed to determine if any of these lifestyle habits have had a major impact on the amount of plastic we consume.
Then there are different types of plastics. The Austrian Environmental Agency tested the samples for 10 types of plastics and identified nine. The most common types were polypropylene and PET, which are found in synthetic clothing and food packaging. Some of the particles were smaller than the width of a human hair.
The World Health Organization announced in March its intention to launch a study on the risks badociated with the presence of plastic in drinking water, after a study by Orb Media revealed the presence of particles in 11 major brands. drinking water purchased in nine different countries. Some of the bottles tested had a particle count of up to hundreds or even thousands.
"Hitchhiking effect"
It even seems that it is unnecessary to avoid plastic bottles – an badysis conducted in 2017 on the tap water found in plastic in 83 % of cases. samples, raising fears that our freshwater ecosystems are as contaminated as our marine ecosystems. And before arriving at an alternative drink: a study conducted in 2014 on German beers displaying microplastics in all samples. This is not the first time that human health problems have been raised.
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. In 2016, the British government announced that it would carry out a study on the impact of microplastics on shellfish on health, after a report indicates that a person only eats six oysters could consume 50 plastic particles.
Some experts also fear that microplastics may have a "hitch-hopping effect". , allowing pathogens or chemicals to stick to it and to be transported to parts of the body.
The toxicity of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in plastic packaging and can lining, has also been a concern. It is thought that more than 90% of the world's population has BPA in their urine and that this chemical has been detected in bad milk and umbilical cord blood. The European Chemicals Agency has described her as an "endocrine disruptor", with potential links to cancer and diabetes. In 1965, France banned BPA, but the position of the European Food Safety Authority is that it poses no risk to humans, even to be born, in the years to come . as a result of a comprehensive scientific review in 2015, that it will update this year.
Health risk?
Schwabl cautioned against the risk of jumping to conclusions. "Now that we have the first evidence of microplastics in humans, we need more research to understand what this means for human health."
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Scientists have discovered microplastics in 11 different brands of bottled water
A spokeswoman for the Food Standards Agency said that it was "unlikely" that microplastic levels in reported foods would do any harm. "Microplastics are present in the environment, both on land and in the water. Therefore, some presence in the food is likely, but that does not necessarily mean that this presence is harmful. "
Mary Creagh, MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, says the findings of the study is the "logical conclusion to treat our ocean as a trash".
"Ministers must use all the tools in the box to turn the tide, and the Chancellor should use the tax system to reduce the amount of plastic we use once and discard. do not revise your diet for the moment. "I am not at all surprised or particularly concerned about these results," said Professor Alistair Boxall, professor of environmental science at the University of York, in response to the study of Vienna. "There are some data from laboratory studies on the uptake and effects on non-human animals – but very often these studies are done at very high concentrations.
"It is therefore very difficult to determine if there is a risk to human health."
What are microplastics?
Microplastics are fragments of plastic less than 5 mm long. Unlike other pollutants, they do not decompose over time and become sediments that can enter the food chain.
Once at sea, they develop in marine life, with effects on health, growth, behavior and reproduction. They can also carry a toxic load of other pollutants on their surfaces.
Particles are used in many cosmetic and personal care products, including exfoliants, soaps, lotions and toothpastes. They can also be found in substances used by the oil and gas industry, such as demulsifiers and corrosion inhibitors, chemical additives that help preserve iron and steel.
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