Microplastics Have Been Found In Our Lungs Now, So That’s Great

When Katy Perry once asked us “do you ever feel like a plastic bag” this probably wasn’t what she literally meant.

New research has found microplastics in lung samples from living people for the first time. Only a month before that, it was found in our blood for the first time as well.

But buckle up, because this is only the tip of the iceberg.

How Microplastics Affect Our Health

There’s an ongoing body of research about micro and nano plastics in our environment and how it affects our health. They get into our bodies either directly through the food chain or indirectly through particles in our environment.

The research can be categorised into two areas: how much has been found in us, and what it does.

The answer to the first question is that it’s been found almost everywhere. This new research measured it in lung tissue, but it’s also been detected in our blood, our organs, in our poop — even in placentas of unborn babies.

It’s the tiny size of these plastic particles that mean it can cause all kinds of effects on our health. From our blood, they can travel all around our bodies and mess with the function of some of our hormones. They’ve been found to interact with the bacteria in our gut and we all know that we need good bacteria there. Research has shown they can disrupt that gut balance and cause metabolic issues that resemble those in other diseases, like diabetes and liver disease.

Because they’re so small, they can do damage at a cellular level, which can be the starting step for a lot of health issues. And they can also release compounds that are associated with causing cancer.

The list is kind of endless and depressing, but it’s also complicated by the fact that we don’t how long they stay in our body, compounded with all the other things our bodies go through.

How Does It Get Into Our Bodies?

Microplastics end up in our environment in two main ways.

They can come already in their micro form from things like washing fabrics, worn down tires, or cosmetics. One study estimated that doing a 6kg load of washing can release 700,000 microplastic fibres.

They can also come from existing plastics in the environment, like plastic rubbish or things with plastic coatings. This means that the microplastics we end up detecting in water, soil, air, and food are all different shapes and sizes with different compositions.

Tons of it end up in the ocean, only to be looped right back into the food chain. In fact, measuring the amount of microplastics in ocean filter feeders like mussels can be used as a way to see how much is in the oceans around different countries. We apparently eat around 5g a week which is about the size of a credit card. Over a lifetime that amounts to 20kg.

But it’s not just through the food chain. The research has shown they can get into our bodies by eating them, breathing them in, and even absorbing them through our skin.

What Can We Do?

Like most issues around pollution and sustainability, it can be tough to consider what we can do as individuals to help. Global plastics production went from 1.7 million tons in 1950 to 359 million tons in 2018. So a lot needs to happen in all kinds of industries for things to change, especially those with huge plastic footprints like fast fashion and consumer goods.

But we are an important part of the global economy. Being mindful of how much plastic we use in our lives is an important part in making people aware that this is important to us. Single use plastic, polyester clothing, and consumer culture in general are things we can keep in mind in our daily lives.

Because research like this really drives the point home about our overconsumption of plastics, literally.