I heard a lot about microplastic getting into our bodies through fish and other food. But what are exactly consequences of having microplastic in body? Problems with fertility? High cancer risks? Lower immunity? What are exactly consequences of microplastic in our bodies? Should I avoid certain food? Or should I make blood test to check how much microplastic I have in my body?
In: Biology
We don’t know what the exact consequences are.
There is a great deal of speculation on possible consequences. There are some studies that *might* show a correlation with certain negative consequences – but not like “smoking will definitely mess up your lungs and has a strong chance of killing you”; rather more like “this might possibly increase your risk of X by some percentage.”
It’s *possible* that they will have significant long-term or chronic effects.
We do know for sure they don’t have significant immediate or acute effects. They’re not like arsenic, where you just fall over dead.
There is a great deal of concern precisely because we don’t know – and in medicine, unknowns are usually risky. There are lots of ways that they *could* cause problems, and other posts in this thread have explained those possible mechanisms. But in medicine, “could” is not the same as “will” – we don’t know yet whether e.g. the physical abrasions of microplastics will turn out to be significant or insignificant over the course of a typical human life.
In terms of individual, localized action, there is no meaningful action for you to take. There are some guides on reducing plastic use, but they range from ineffective to impractical for most people. There’s microplastic in pretty much everything at this point.
In terms of long-term action, you can vote for and otherwise support politicians/movements that support funding to medical research (to find out exactly what the consequences will be), public medicine (for widespread treatment if needed), environmental and consumer-goods regulations (to lower/control plastic use), etc.
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