We keep hearing the word “microplastic” in our foods, seas, and ground, but if they do not react with most chemicals, why are they a problem in our bodies? Wouldn’t they just ignore them?
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In addition: plastics are non-polar, meaning thee molecules in them have no partial charge. This is in contrast to water, which is a polar molecule. Loads of pollutants like PCB’s and pesticides are also non-polar. When (micro)plastics get in the water collum, tis has the effect of making them act like magnets to these pollutants: every molecule of PCB’s and pesticides that floats by is going to stick to the surface of the plastic. This way every piece of plastic is going to become more and more toxic as it gathers pollutants on itself. Unfortunately these microplastics then get eaten by fish, mistaking them for plankton. The pollutants get concentrated even more in these plankton-eaters. The next step up in the foodchain is often bigger predatory fish (another concentration-step), like Tuna…which is what we humans like to eat. By this time the pollutants might have increased more than 1000-fold in concentration, compared to the levels in the water. This is called bio-accumulation.
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