4 ms·
This is probably the lead of the 21st century, something all over that we have kind of known is bad but haven’t paid attention to. Add endocrine disruptors alon
by api 2y ago
This is probably the lead of the 21st century, something all over that we have kind of known is bad but haven’t paid attention to. Add endocrine disruptors along with microplastics since the origin is similar.
In 50 years there will probably be a lot less plastic used in contact with food, and what is used will be formulated differently. It will be similar to the gradual removal of lead from everything.
- toss1 2y agoYup. Seems like a great idea at the time, until it is both such a great idea that it becomes ubiquitous and we start looking at it more closely. Kind of a proverbial 'boiling the frog' problem. A little bit of handling lead pipes or pumping leaded gasoline or inhaling or ingesting microplastics won't do anything. But when modern life gets so we're all bathing in the stuff all the time, the big problems are revealed.
- jjtheblunt 2y agoMaybe in the "western world", but look up asbestos use and mining and export in brazil, china, russia and you may be horrified.
- gen220 2y agoYeah and similar to lead (and asbestos as someone else mentioned), once you see it you can't really un-see it. The idea of re-heating food by microwave in a plastic storage container, or purchasing anything acidic or liquid from the grocery store that's stored in a plastic or plastic-lined container elicits a similar feeling in my brain to sleeping under popcorn ceilings or drinking water from a house with lead pipe plumbing. Yet, in the U.S. at leaste, people have been doing this literally for decades without thinking twice :/
- ahartmetz 2y agoSo we know that microplastics are everywhere. The thing that doesn't really seem clear yet is whether microplastics are actually harmful. Polyethylene, for example, seems quite harmless. (There are also generally harmless substances that become harmful in the right shape, e.g. quartz as fine dust or fibers)