Babies are full of microplastics, new research shows

https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/10/01/babies-are-full-of-microplastics-new-research-shows

by underscore_ku • 5 years ago

59 61 5 years ago

ahevia2• 5 years ago

I’m aware that consumption of microplastics is a huge problem. (Hey HN reader. Get rid of plastic from your life. Doing future you a favor.) But the sample size cited was just six babies from New York. Seems a bit too small for such a conclusive headline (maybe I missed another study the article cites)

I would like to see how the average amount of microplastics differs in babies by race/class/location. Had to buy a non plastic baby toy for a friend recently and that was by no means cheap compared to the alternatives in the same aisle.

I worry babies who grow up in low income and low resourced homes. Not only might suffer from under nutrition as they grow older, but the as yet not fully understood developmental effects of microplastics in the system of a developing child.

rich_sasha4• 5 years ago

I suppose it’s one of those “effect size” cases where a small sample is ok. Finding one child with micro plastics in it ought to be alarming, finding 6 is already a strong signal.

Further studies are always a good thing in any case.

WithinReason2• 5 years ago

I’m aware that consumption of microplastics is a huge problem.

Is it? Is there any research showing this?

eurasiantiger4• 5 years ago

There is. Let me show you this neat search engine for such things.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=micr...

concinds• 5 years ago

It seems to be a major endocrine disruptor.

hobofan• 5 years ago

From a presentation last year by a researcher that works on the toxicity of nanoplastics at The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, I recall that they so far haven't found evidence of the toxicity of nano- and microplastics even if you would assume high exposure scenarios (e.g. having a diet consisting of only plastic-laden oysters), but that further research needs to be undertaken.

Their website on the topic (in German[0]) states the same thing: No evidence that they pose any health risk to humans, but further research is necessary for any conclusive statements.

[0] https://www.bfr.bund.de/de/mikroplastik__fakten__forschung_u...

pvaldes2• 5 years ago

Is a problem because most plastic products release substances that mimic sexual hormones and in particular femenine hormones [1].

In small boys, having more foreign estrogens in their body than the expected amount [2] will affect deeply their entire development, happiness with their self-image, and life opportunities.

I invite you to take the extra step and understand that we all use computers made of plastic for hours and hours. Are we being feminized all the time?. The probable answer is yes, we are.

And this would promote A) accumulating more fat B) developing gradually a desire to change sex Wachowsky sisters style, that is crying loud: "environmental cause" when we have several men in the same place gradually changing gender.

But talking seriously about LGTB issues further that "we all must accept it without making us answers that could hurt the feelings of somebody" is a huge taboo.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222987/

[2] both sexes share female and male hormones, women have also a small amount of testosterone.

rich_sasha4• 5 years ago

I read somewhere in a newspaper article that it is now know to seriously affect aquatic life. Different environment but maybe not a good indication?

Sorry no source and I’m not remotelt a biologist.

soco• 5 years ago

It's incredible how acceptable seems the idea to ingest all kind of unusual stuff just because "if there's no research against it then it's fine". We animals didn't evolve as a species by ingesting plastics, also not by inhaling smokes, so unless you live in the Marvel universe you should assume that anything unnatural you take in will harm you sooner or later.

jacquesm• 5 years ago

Hey HN reader. Get rid of plastic from your life. Doing future you a favor.

I'm acutely aware of this but even if you want to get rid of plastic from your life it is next to impossible. Tell me how you have done this please?

ehnto• 5 years ago

While "technically" possible to get rid of it all I'm sure, I think if you get caught up on perfection you'll give up. Just reduce it as best you can and move on with your life.

We're always told that the consumer has choice and power, but it just doesn't play out in reality. Imagine a dense city full of millions of people, they can't all just stop buying plastic goods, since there's not enough supply of non-plastic goods to support them all. It's got to change at the source, which is the manufacturers, and that won't change without regulation.

armedpacifist2• 5 years ago

Bea Johnson's book Zero Waste Home (and talks) is the go to on how to start.

My gf works towards a 'zero-waste' household, but you'd have to cut back on a lot of products. It's not impossible, but it does require sacrifice. However, you will discover new things which will compensate for that.

I can recommend you give it a go though, maybe for just a month. You'll learn a lot, discover interesting new products and your local zero-waste shops and sharpen your overall awareness about everyday use of plastic.

AnonHP• 5 years ago

(Hey HN reader. Get rid of plastic from your life. Doing future you a favor.)

- Stop eating fish and other marine animals, since fishing nets are the largest (or one of the largest) sources of plastic waste in the oceans.

- Stop buying food items in plastic bags, especially disposable bags.

- Stop buying beverages in plastic bottles and cups.

- Stop using cosmetics and other items packaged in plastic.

- Stop using credit/debit/other cards that are made of plastic.

- Stop using plastic straws.

- Stop buying all appliances, gadgets and electronic devices that have plastic in them and plastic in their batteries.

- Stop using vehicles that have plastic in them.

- Stop using plastic furniture.

We can't do all of these and live in the modern society, but there are people who practice "zero waste" and consider the plastic coming into their hands (directly and indirectly).

kzrdude• 5 years ago

- Stop using credit/debit/other cards that are made of plastic.

How can this have a significant impact in any way? Even one new credit card per year is a very small amount of plastic consumption. :) And funnily enough, in some countries, the alternative (cash) is also plastic.

totetsu• 5 years ago

visited the sea of Japan for the first time in a while, and went to a beach not usually used, the other day. The whole place above the high tide live was covered in broken up polystyrene. All through the grass. Impossible to clean up. And if you did it would just keep on floating in. I can stop eating fish. I could even try to support a national political movement to get the Japanese fishing industry to clean up their act.. but what about Korea and China and Russia. We can stop this and live in a modern society, but it requires leadership and cooperation. And now we have politics of be self interest and nationalism.

hungryforcodes2• 5 years ago

So stop living basically. Why don't we just make plastics that are safe and dissolve in our bodies? Probably not that hard to do.

_spduchamp• 5 years ago

I'd add, "advocate for electoral reform" to the list. It's hard to get systemic change under first-past-the-post.

mattlondon• 5 years ago

I wondered how much dummy/pacifier use factors into this.

I see lots of kids with those in their mouths basically the whole waking day, but this is not the same for all children and some do not use them at all.

armedpacifist2• 5 years ago

They're made of silicone/rubber/... and as far as I know never of plastic. However, the top part sometimes can be plastic.

beckman466• 5 years ago

Hey HN reader. Get rid of plastic from your life. Doing future you a favor.

No. We need to help the working class become system -literate, and then demand systemic change together. This is not the 'individual choice' problem these call the actions make them out to be. We need to fully map and understand the undemocratic black box systems and their obfuscated rules that we live under.

Governments and firms could end plastic packaging/usage today, yet don't because of perverse incentives that send the same foods in the opposite direction which means food has to stay fresh for much longer while traveling much too far.

"Many urbanised people have lost touch with the sources of their food, and may not realize that the distance their food travels has been steadily increasing. In the US, the average pound of food now travels 1,500 miles before it reaches the dinner table, and the distance continues to grow.

Much of this transport is needless: every day, identical commodities pass in opposite directions, criss-crossing the globe. The ‘logic’ of the global economy leads the US and other nations to import hundreds of thousands of tons of staple foods each year, while simultaneously exporting roughly the same amount. In an era of dwindling fossil fuel reserves and rising CO2 emissions, this is both senseless and wasteful. But it is a trend that is accelerating as governments systematically promote a single, globalized food system."

- Helena Norberg Hodge [1]

A horrible example of this is when a country like Ethiopia, that's been neo-colonized by global north capitalists, exports rice and other foods while the Ethiopian working class people are starving and pushed into slums in cities (away from their land). [2]

The video by Annie Dillard called the Story of Stuff [3] is still a fantastic summary of this (as are her other videos).

[1] The Case for Local Food, https://www.localfutures.org/the-case-for-local-food/

[2] Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isiYYVmvn2U

[3] The Story of Stuff, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

ahevia2• 5 years ago

I completely agree with you. My comment was made in regards of removing plastics for your health. Not a comment on capitalism or equating individual action to system reform.

robertlagrant4• 5 years ago

We need to help the working class become system -literate, and then demand systemic change together

This sounds a little infantilising. If we want change, we need to make it, not just demand it. All the hashtags in the world contribute less to helping the situation than one Tesla engineer.

specialist• 5 years ago

Hey HN reader. Get rid of plastic from your life.

I've been foraging for non-plastic clothing and household goods. Preferably hemp, but am open minded towards bamboo, organic cotton, whatever.

Briefs, t-shirts, fleece pullovers, sweaters, fleece blankets, bed sheets, kitchen towels, etc.

Links, recommendations appreciated.

matthewmorgan• 5 years ago

Guess I better stop eating babies

jrootabega• 5 years ago

Moderation is key.

upofadown• 5 years ago

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic less than five mm in size...

That's pretty big.

But recent research suggests the smallest pieces are able to cross cell membranes and enter our circulation.

Probably not the 5 mm pieces...

It isn't clear from the article what they actually counted here.

tromp• 5 years ago

Maybe the author misread 5 micrometer in some source as 5 millimeter, and then added "about the thickness of a two Euro coin." to cement their confusion.

jmiskovic• 5 years ago

A solid guess. It's not miliplastics after all.

robertlagrant4• 5 years ago

It's worrying that authors of such material don't think, "wait, that can't be right!" Shock jockery is not very helpful.

air72• 5 years ago

"An innocent baby, unaware of all the microplastics in her"

I've lost all patience for articles like, where the clickbait hype-up is so blatantly obvious. I vote with my eyeballs and just don't read them.

air72• 5 years ago

Afaik, the main sources of microplastics we consume are from normal car tire usage, and from clothes with nylon fibers going through washing machines.

This means that the issue has been with us for at least a couple generations by now so one may conclude that if there were dire effects, we would have seen them by now.

Perhaps similar to the cellphones causing cancer debate, we inadvertently placed ourselves in a world wide lab experiment without giving it enough thought beforhand. But the upside is we can gather a lot of data now...

stathibus• 5 years ago

How do you know we are not already seeing the effects and have just failed to attribute them? Wouldn't be a stretch, there's a lot we don't know about how and why health outcomes have changed in the last few generations.

clavicat• 5 years ago

Kind of wished that humanity could have explored the consequences of making everything out of plastic before we decided to make everything out of plastic. In hindsight, it seems a little crazy that we just radically altered everything we use without thinking about it.

spockz2• 5 years ago

This seems old news? This is why there is all the rage in the Netherlands to use glass milk bottles for babies instead of plastic.

t0mas88• 5 years ago

Glass bottles and the hype around wooden toys. But those are quite a lot more expensive than plastic toys.

spockz2• 5 years ago

Even though we never went with glass bottles we do like the feel and durability of wooden toys a lot. They seem to be longer lasting, both physically and entertainment wise. Aside from Duplo and Lego.

Babies are full of microplastics, new research shows

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