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Microplastics have been found in human stool specimens from countries in many parts of the world, according to a small pilot study presented this week atth United European Gastroenterology annual conference in Vienna, Austria.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Vienna Medical University and the Environmental Agency in Austria, examined stool samples from eight people from eight different countries. : Finland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, United Kingdom and Austria. All stool samples were tested positive for up to nine different types of plastic, with an average of 20 plastic particles per 10 grams of stool.
"Personally, I did not expect each sample to be …[test] Dr. Philipp Schwabl, Principal Investigator at the Vienna Medical University, said his eight stool specimens contained polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate particles, essential components of plastic caps and vials. "Is it harmful to human health? It's a very important issue and we are planning further investigations."
In this study, which is the first of its kind, each person followed his or her usual diet and kept a food diary during the week prior to stool removal. All participants were exposed to plastics by consuming food packaged in plastic as well as drinks in plastic bottles. None of the participants were vegetarians and six of them consumed wild fish.
According to Mr. Scwhabl, the problem is whether microplastics could "enter the bloodstream, the lymphatic system and … even reach the liver". He notes that in animal and fish studies, microplastics have been shown to cause intestinal damage and liver stress.
The world produces 400 tons of plastic a year and 80% ends up in landfills and other parts of the environment. The smallest particles, microplastics, range from 10 nanometers – so tiny that they are invisible to the human eye – up to 5 millimeters in diameter. Microplastics – including clothing microfibers – float in the air and are found in most of our bottled and tap water, our beer, our sea salt, our mineral salts and our soil.
"This study is brilliant and ingenious," says chemist and microplastic expert Shari Mason of the State University of New York at Fredonia. Mason was not involved in the study. "They definitely established what many of us suspected – we ingest these plastics."
The question now, says Mason, is what is withheld, rather than excreted? And what is its impact?
"According to the scientific literature, anything less than 150 microns, and especially anything less than 50 microns, can migrate through the intestinal wall and enter blood cells and organs," says Dr. Ecologist Chelsea Rochman of the University of Toronto. not involved in the study.
Not only is the potential migration of plastics throughout our body a concern, but additives in plastics can pose health risks. Many of these additives are known endocrine disruptors. According to Dr. Herbert Tilg, President of the Austrian Society of Gastroenterology and the UEG's Scientific Committee, microplastics could be one of the contributing factors to inflammatory bowel syndrome or even cancer of the gut. colon, increasing in young adults.
"Colon cancer is increasing among young people and we think it's the food or environmental components that play a role," he says. "Now that we know we can detect microplastics in humans, we can develop larger studies, in healthy or sick patients, to determine if they are a contributing factor." Tilg was not involved in this study.
So, how can we minimize our exposure to microplastics? Rochman says for the water, "reverse osmosis filters are beautiful, and we use them in our laboratory". HEPA filters can also clean the air of small particles, she says. Plastic bottles can be avoided, but despite this, plastic packaging and containers are ubiquitous for food; and plastic is everywhere around us.
"Our love story with plastic is so huge," says Mason, "it will take time to change our current situation.People are starting to get interested in really biodegradable hemp-based plastics or d & # 39; Corn starch, and I think it will be the ultimate solution to this multiform problem. "
Rochman was not surprised that microplastics are found in human stools. "We have mismanaged our rubbish," said Rochman, "and we came back to haunt our table, now we literally eat our own garbage, we can do better than that."
Meanwhile, Schwabl says that he and his colleagues are asking for funding to replicate their initial findings in a larger study.
Jill Neimark is an Atlanta-based writer whose work has been featured in American Scientist, Science, Nautilus, Aeon, Psychology Today and The New York Times.
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