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Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year
- fwiw5 7y agoAs if they weren’t fat enough. Now they eat plastic.
- staunch 7y agoI'd be happy to buy virtually all my packaged food in recyclable glass containers. I buy milk in bottles and return them for a refund and it's easy enough. Amazon could make this move happen pretty quickly with amazon.com and Whole Foods. I'm sure there would be difficulties involved but they don't seem insurmountable.
- vuln 7y ago>shipping glass ... “difficulties” Yeah I’m sure they’d lose a ton of money. Glass is heavy and expensive plus the added liability of it breaking and a consumer reaching their hand inside.
- youeseh 7y agoThey could pilot it and charge a little extra.
- vuln 7y agoBut you’re still packing it cardboard and air filled plastic bags. It’s fragile has to be handled differently. Which means it’s more of a risk. Think of the robot that pierced the bear mace in a factory.
- youeseh 7y agoHey, I'm not saying it'd be easy. When I lived in the middle East the cola truck would deliver to residences and take away the empties each week.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- maxxxxx 7y ago"plus the added liability of it breaking and a consumer reaching their hand inside." Do people just make this stuff as up as a concern? There are plenty of areas where this is done without problems.
- userbinator 7y agoDrop a glass container and it's almost certainly going to shatter, contaminating whatever product it was carrying with dangerously tiny shards of glass. Drop a plastic container and it's going to dent or rupture at most, and the product it contains will likely still be recoverable.
- derp_dee_derp 7y agoPickles come in glass jars. so does salsa. So does some types of juice. I'm not sure why you are concerned about this because it is obviously not a big problem.
- chrisco255 7y agoIt is a problem, especially in transportation and distribution of products. It costs more for glass. It's heavier, there's more loss from breakage, etc. There's a reason society went from using glass for every container to plastic. Plastics are convenient, resilient to drops, lightweight, flexible, and easier to form in various shapes.
- okcando 7y agoThe point is that we already deal with glass through the entire process of production, distribution, use, and disposal and it is not a problem. Plastic is of course cheaper (ignoring externalities) and of course has advantageous qualities. That's why we use plastic. It is a good material. But we can deal with glass if we decide the true cost of plastic is too high, even if the glass breaks.
- darkpuma 7y ago
- bencollier49 7y agoWe have milk delivered in glass bottles on our doorstep each morning. No difficulties.
- chrisco255 7y agoThey still do this in some cities?
- tfha 7y agoThey do it in Boston, I'm sure most other major cities have access to glass bottle milk delivery as well. If I recall correctly, it's $2.50 extra per bottle for the glass but you get $2.00 back if you return it on the next delivery.
- philipps 7y agoWhat company/service are you using in Boston?
- bencollier49 7y agoWe're in the UK. It's available in most towns.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- darkpuma 7y agoLots of things come in glass already and it doesn't really seem to be a big deal. Spaghetti sauce, pickles, etc. Nobody thinks twice about any of that.
- layoutIfNeeded 7y agoThis. For some reason it’s only the water and softdrink manufacturers who have this hardon for plastic containers. Everyone else is happily putting all sorts of condiments and liquids in glassware.
- serf 7y ago>Glass is heavy and expensive plus the added liability of it breaking and a consumer reaching their hand inside. Plastic edges can cut you to the bone pretty easily. Clamshell package victims attest to this year after year. Can't I just go choke on a plastic bottle somewhere and swing the legal preference back the other way, if that's truly the issue? I agree with you on the weight aspect though. It'd be difficult to get goods producers to reduce their profits altruistically.
- chrisco255 7y agoImagine glass clamshell packaging, if you think plastic cuts are bad. It's also not about reducing profits or not. Consumer goods operate on very thin margins. Anything you do to increase packaging and distribution costs will be passed on in the price of the goods.
- tfha 7y agoYou'd only need to use glass for the last mile of the process for many items. Ship the bulk items in big metal containers and then switch to bottling at the stores.
- mevile 7y agoThe article points out that you're also getting the microplastics from the food you're eating and from just drinking tap water. Microplastics from your own packaging isn't included in the 120k total.
- remarkEon 7y agoWhich means the problem is likely worse.
- jetrink 7y agoA service called Loop[1] is currently being trialed that delivers goods using all reusable (not just recyclable) packaging. The service also picks up the used packaging. It is a collaboration between Walgreens and Kroger. 1. https://loopstore.com/ https://loopstore.com/
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- tyingq 7y agoYou can get water in aluminum cans. Pretty common when flying on a plane for example.
- steve19 7y agoAluminium cans are coated on the inside with plastic. Edit: here is a video showing what the lining looks like. https://youtu.be/EagzNomxTYg https://youtu.be/EagzNomxTYg
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y agoFor everyone talking about the benefits of glass bottles, they have their own dangers. This study from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia showed that broken glass bottles accounted for 15% of all lacerations in children (the largest single cause) and broken glass bottles most frequently inflicted injuries resulting in functional impairment or hospitalization https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/514953 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abst... There may be a possible danger from plastic bottles over the long term, but widespread glass bottle adoptions is going to result in a lot of lacerated kids.
- RandomInteger4 7y agoNot to mention that glass also has harmful chemicals that leach into the contents of the glass containers. Same goes for metal.
- rockinghigh 7y agoDo you have any links on the chemicals you're referring to and their danger?
- xenocyon 7y agoThat's very hard to believe; glass is pretty inert.
- cheschire 7y agoYou may be thinking of crystal, which was used in older decanters and the alcohol inside assisted in the process of lead contamination.
- dahfizz 7y agoDo we know much about the impact this has on our bodies? This is certainly something to be concerned about, but without that context it's hard to know what this really means. The article says a "microplastic particle" is any peice of plastic smaller than 5mm. That's bigger than some pills - I would definitely notice chewing on something that size. So how big are these really and what are they doing to me? For reference, the US and EU both regulate that 10 micrograms per liter of arsenic in drinking water is safe. Using my rusty high school chemistry (please correct me if I'm wrong), this is on the order of ~10^20 particles (atoms) of arsenic per year. That's way way more than 100k and arsenic is more inherently harmful to humans than plastic. This could easily be genuine epidemic levels of awful, or it could be completely nothing. Does anyone know more?
- Steel_Phoenix 7y agoI always wonder more about the airborne stuff. Blankets, carpets, clothing, furniture. In a sun beam you can see all the little fibers floating around. I bet I inhale and swallow way more plastic every year than I eat, but I never see it mentioned.
- kccqzy 7y agoWell for one, a microplastic particle is certainly much bigger than an atom.
- dahfizz 7y agoIf you like, we could divide all our arsenic atoms into 'microparticles' that each contain: ~100000000000000 atoms. At that point your arsenic particle and plastic particle intake would be the same. My whole point is that we are dealing with crazy big and crazy small numbers. Without more context they are all meaningless.
- jdietrich 7y ago>So how big are these really and what are they doing to me? According to the paper, a) they're mostly microscopic pieces of lint from synthetic textiles and b) we don't know. Given the amount of research that has looked for health harms related to plastics exposure, I operate on the assumption that if it was a big deal, we would have found something by now. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b01517 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b01517
- jdietrich 7y agoSo? To quote the results of the paper, "the effects of consuming MPs on human health are largely unknown". I'm just not concerned about ingesting tiny quantities of something that might possibly be harmful, even though we've been looking really hard for harms for quite a long time and haven't found anything of note. My environment is full of stuff that we know to be definitely harmful - could we fix that please, before we start worrying about stuff that might possibly be harmful?
- tfha 7y agoIt's good to know that modern practices are having wide reaching contamination. The sources of ingestion may not be from where you expected and may indicate that other more harmful things are being ingested as well.
- PakG1 7y agoNothing wrong with trying to fix both. Often, the obstacles to most problem solutions are political and economic, not technological or scientific. It's feasible to work on many problems if the political will is there. Doesn't have to be a mutually exclusive choice scenario.
- remarkEon 7y agoSomewhat unrelated, but I really wish we could find a way to not be so reliant on plastics. I try to shop at local farmers markets (I'm willing to pay a small premium for knowing exactly where my food is coming from), and even in those cases the guy behind the table reflexively reaches for a plastic bag nearly every time. I always bring my own canvas bags or a backpack, but this has become so culturally ingrained in this country. Is it like this in Europe? I used to poo poo attempts at restricting the use of straws and plastic single-use containers, but now I'm warming up to the idea of outright dropping the ban hammer. These things are gross and they end up in the gutters, and make cities look dirty and poorly managed. We survived without them for a long time. We should figure out a way to do so again.
- devoply 7y ago> I really wish we could find a way to not be so reliant on plastics. Aluminum and glass. We have ways, we only need the political will to mandate their uses and discontinue plastics over a short period of say 10-20 years.
- pcmaffey 7y agoExcept, there's a special circle of hell for people that knowingly break glass bottles out "in the wild", and I wouldn't want to fill their hands with greater temptation, lest their ignorant souls be damned for eternity.
- layoutIfNeeded 7y agoAluminium cans have a thin plastic layer inside.
- NikolaeVarius 7y agoGlass is heavy as shit and makes transportation require more energy.
- devoply 7y agoYet glass bottles are used everywhere from beer, wine, jellies, jams, etc. etc. Transportation cost is not much of a real issue.
- strainer 7y agoSooner or later it is likely that microbes which can digest plastics but are currently extremely rare, will multiply, become common and evolve since we are making plastic pollution increasingly common throughout soils and seas. What will be the timescale and effect of a new category of microbes on earthly micro-flora? In soils, in foodchains and within our own guts ? This uncertainty presents an unpredictable biohazard. An intelligent population having noticed its accidental emissions would try to limit and reduce them in scale for its own and future generations biological security.
- chrisco255 7y agoPlastics are not so abundant in the oceans or soils to support some kind of biological takeover, assuming such microbes could evolve. This is sensationalist speculation. https://vinylverified.com/blog/2019/5/17/vinyl-verified-responds-to-flawed-irresponsible-australian-ocean-water-study?gclid=CjwKCAjwlujnBRBlEiwAuWx4LZMx0PQcMa7riLyemMH0nAR11geomQ6pTnnnDcP03iCYwu2KQ2FmqhoCcCQQAvD_BwE https://vinylverified.com/blog/2019/5/17/vinyl-verified-resp...
- aliteralrobot 7y agoThis article doesn’t provide evidence for your claim that plastics are not so abundant in the oceans, it only points out that a specific study that relied on a false premise (that PVC is a high percentage or is well-represented in ocean plastics) is flawed. It makes almost no mention of the abundance of actual ocean plastics. Did you link the wrong article or something?
- chrisco255 7y agoYou're the one with the extraordinary claim so you should be providing extraordinary evidence.
- refurb 7y agoMany time release drugs use plastics to accomplish it. Polymethacrilic acid is a very common plastic used. Regarded as safe since the plastic just gets excreted in the feces.
- LargoLasskhyfv 7y agoThe term is https://duckduckgo.com/?q=endocrine+disruptor https://duckduckgo.com/?q=endocrine+disruptor Why don't you think about the implications of the stuff not only everywhere in the environment, but as small (almost nano?) particles whith large surface, releasing their shiny sparkles/oily smears/pick your poison into your innards. It's got electrolytez! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vw2CrY9Igs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vw2CrY9Igs
- BooneJS 7y agoWe watched this doc on Netflix the other day. It’s a combination of sad and disgusting. https://www.netflix.com/title/80164032 https://www.netflix.com/title/80164032
- OrgNet 7y ago> Measuring less than five millimeters in length, microplastics derive from a variety of sources wow, that is big... they can be almost 2/10 of an inch (I think I would choke on that)
- z3t4 7y agoThe waste we dump will eventually end up in our bodies. Earth is a closed-loop, and we are on top of the food chain.