I get the scale and that they’re found everywhere, recently even in clouds, which is shocking; but what specifically are the negatives?
To put it a little obtusely: so what?
In: 30
A book you may want to consider:
# [A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies](https://www.amazon.com/Poison-Like-Other-Microplastics-Corrupted-ebook/dp/B0BMDFD5YX/)
They interfere with our bodies both physically, and chemically, and hormonally because a lot of plastics contain substances that are hormone mimics. Plus, there are unknown unknowns (almost certainly harmful) because we’ve never dealt with this kind of pollution historically. There are chemicals within plastics that are suspected [obesogens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesogen) (substances that may contribute to obesity), [endocrine disruptors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_disruptor), and sex hormone mimics that can mess with sexual expression and all sorts of other things. Male sperm count worldwide is decreasing, and the influence of these hormone mimics in plastics that everyone is exposed to is implicated in this phenomenon. (This is not solidly established, and research on this topic is ongoing, but it seems highly plausible to me.) The obesity epidemic may be partly due to the influence of chemicals that plastics expose us to. Microplastics may potentially be a major vector for the delivery of these disruptive hormone mimicking substances.
Some of the major sources of microplastics that enter your body are:
* glitter (in cosmetics, lip stick, etc. Glitter is evil. Adding glitter to something is basically directly adding microplastics pollution to that thing.)
* plastic cutting boards
* lint from synthetic fabrics
* plastic blenders
* “microwave safe” plastic food containers
The last one shocked me; apparently, these shed billions of particles into your food when heated. Heat itself apparently causes the release of plastic particles. For this reason, I don’t do sous vide cooking anymore; cooking your food in plastic that you heat along with the food just doesn’t appear to be safe. See this medical lecture from MedCram continuing medical education lectures:
# MedCram | [Microplastics in Our Food and Body: Cutting Boards, Microwaves, More](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bNySyEobfY)
This short explains the problem with plastic blenders:
# MedCram Shorts | [Blenders: Microplastics released from normal use](https://youtube.com/shorts/twegZBQ07Sg)
Latest Answers