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It's mind boggling to ponder a world without any plastic products though, isn't it? I work in ag irrigation, and the degree to which plastic has taken over irri
by travisgriggs 3y ago
It's mind boggling to ponder a world without any plastic products though, isn't it? I work in ag irrigation, and the degree to which plastic has taken over irrigation implements in the last 20+ years is mind boggling. I sometimes wonder what it would mean for our company and industry in general if plastic suddenly became toxic.
- MPSimmons 3y agoIf plastic becomes toxic, it won't _become toxic_, it will become recognized as toxic, which would mean that it's toxic right now, and while that's true for some plastics, it doesn't seem to be true for the majority of food-safe plastics in use. I think it's more likely that there's some kind of subtle effect from the introduction of microplastics into the ecosystem that we haven't identified yet, but as of right now, there's no conclusive evidence that I'm aware of that microplastics are toxic, only that sufficient accumulation of them can impair biological function, just the same as any contaminant would.
- epistasis 3y agoAgree 99%, but as plastics break down there's a chance that they do become toxic. For example, a chemical used in tires is extremely toxic to salmon, but only after breaking down a bit: https://www.science.org/content/article/common-tire-chemical-implicated-mysterious-deaths-risk-salmon https://www.science.org/content/article/common-tire-chemical...
- MPSimmons 3y agoOh wow, that's really interesting. I wasn't aware. Thank you!