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Posted at 19:48 ET on October 23, 2018
There is plastic in the shit.
A team of scientists said they discovered tiny plastic particles in the stool of a global sample – and that each sample was tested positive.
"This is the first study of its kind and confirms what we have long suspected, namely that plastics eventually reach the intestine," said lead researcher Philipp Schwabl, a research physician at the University of California. Vienna Medical University.
The small study, conducted by the University of Vienna with Austria's Environment Agency Austria, was presented Monday at the annual United European Gastroenterology conference.
"What this means for us, and especially for patients with gastrointestinal diseases, is of particular concern," Schwabl said. "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. Now that we have the first evidence of microplastics in humans, we need more research to understand what this means for human health. "
To conduct this study, researchers monitored the stool of a group of eight participants from Finland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. # 39; Austria. They detected particles of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and so on. In total, nine types of plastic were found in the stool samples. The researchers found an average of 20 microplastic particles per 10 grams of stool.
Although the study is limited, research suggests that plastics could be spread throughout the human food chain.
ramifications: Microplastics are defined as tiny particles, less than 5 mm (13/64 of an inch). The particles come from a variety of products, as well as from plastics that break down in the environment and end up in the waterways.
Scientists have said that microplastics could have an impact on human health, starting with the gastrointestinal tract, and affect the immune response in the intestine, either through a build-up of plastics or through the transmission of toxins that they contain.
Researchers have not been able to accurately identify the origin of plastics. Each participant in the study kept a food diary during the week prior to stool specimen collection. The diaries showed that the participants were exposed to the plastic in different ways: by eating food packaged in plastic or drinking plastic bottles. None was vegetarian. Six had eaten fish.
"This study is brilliant and ingenious," NPR, Shari Mason, a chemist and microplastics specialist from the State University of New York at Fredonia, told NPR. Mason did not participate in the study, but the scientists confirmed "what many of us suspected: we ingest these plastics".
Plastics are increasingly seen as a global problem. The researchers said that plastic production is increasing every year and that 2-5% of all plastics produced end up in the oceans, where they are consumed by marine animals likely to enter the human food chain. Microplastics have been detected in tuna, lobster and shrimp.
Earlier this year, a team of scientists working with Orb, a nonprofit journalism organization, discovered that a single bottle of water could contain tens or even thousands of tiny plastic particles. Tests on more than 250 bottles showed that almost all were contaminated with microplastic particles including PP, PET and nylon. Some bottles showed no plastic presence. In total, scientists working with the publication found plastic in 93% of the samples.
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