Microplastics have been found in human feces around the world

Microplastics are everywhere. They have been found in deep marine sediments more than three miles below the surface of the ocean, in the Arctic pack ice and in the Swiss mountains. Today, microplastics have been found in human excrement around the world.

Researchers from the Vienna Medical University and the Austrian Environmental Agency presented their findings at the 26th European Gastroenterology Week in Vienna, Austria. According to the team, this discovery would have a profound impact on human health. Previous animal research has shown that microplastic particles can enter the bloodstream, the lymphatic system and even the liver. Studies in animals also show that microplastics can cause intestinal lesions.

Microplastics are defined as pieces of plastic less than five millimeters long. They come from large pieces of decomposing plastic and microbeads – tiny pieces of polyethylene plastic that are widely used in cosmetics.

In what appears to be the first study of its kind, the team led by Philipp Schwabl of the Vienna Medical University analyzed stool samples from eight people living in eight different countries – Finland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom and Austria.

Microplastics have been found in samples of human stool from around the world. iStock

Participants were asked to keep a food diary during the week preceding the submission of a sample. The diaries showed that they had all been exposed to plastic via food wrappers or drinking from plastic bottles.

The tests showed that all the microplastics were present in the stool samples. Up to nine different types of plastics have been found, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) being the most common. They found, on average, 20 microplastic particles per 10 grams of stool sampled.

The team believes that plastics are ingested through the food chain (where people eat contaminated fish, for example) and tiny pieces of plastic from food packaging, such as bottles.

"Plastics are ubiquitous in everyday life and humans are exposed to plastic in many ways," Schwabl said in an interview with questions preceding the presentation. "Personally, I did not expect each sample to be tested positive … plastic pollution is very strongly correlated. Therefore, it is likely that the amount of plastic contamination can increase if humanity does not change the current situation. "

Plastic pollution is now in the most remote parts of the world. iStock

Schwabl warned that it is important to remember that the size of the sample of the study is very small, so it is difficult to draw too much conclusions. The research paper has not yet been published and has not been reviewed by members of the scientific community. The team is currently seeking funds to expand this research.

They estimate that if their sample was generally representative, it would mean that about 50% of the world's human population would have microplastics in the stool.

Amanda Callaghan, from the University of Reading in the UK, recently published a study showing that microplastics are now entering the food chain via mosquitoes, which microplastics enter the mosquito at the larval development stage. Commenting on the latest findings before the presentation, she said Newsweek she is not at all surprised.

"We know that plastics come from plastic water bottles, that microfibers escape from washing machines and that the fish we eat contains them," she said. "I am especially surprised that this is the first study of its kind. The big questions are: does it hurt our health and what can we do to reduce our exposure? "