Microplastics were found in human blood for the first time. Long term effects are unknown.

[uallas5]

I remember this story from about 6 months ago:

Freeze your sperm now; microplastics could be making us infertile | ScienceWriters (www.NASW.org)

According to a 2021 Nature article, some researchers believe that the amount of microplastics in the environment is not enough to impact human health. However, some researchers are convinced that reduced sperm count and sperm quality in humans is related to the increased microplastic pollution in water and food, and human autopsy studies have found microplastics in human placentas and posthumous liver and fat tissue samples.

While studies in humans have been inconclusive, due to ethical reasons, lab mice have provided some evidence of the link between microplastics and male infertility. In a study where mice’s water supplies were exposed with different amounts of polystyrene microplastics for 35 days, researchers found that mice who were exposed to microplastics had lower sperm counts than a control group who were not exposed.

The sperm of the mice who received the highest dose of microplastics also had significantly more abnormalities than the sperm of the mice who were not exposed. For example, some of the sperm had two tails, or visible swelling on its head.

 

[sandorski]

Hippies! Whacko Environ-Mentals! Tree Huggers! Commies! ....etc etc

 

[HomerJS]

Yikes!

Even plastic that can be safe to use with food at room temps potentially becomes unsafe when heated and leaching nasty chemicals into your food.

I strongly suggest you stop using plastics completely for hot things in general and especially for any kind of cooking!

Go exclusively glass or ceramic in the microwave.

I stopped nuking stuff in plastic years ago. I still have the bad habit of reusing water bottles for the gym because I was losing my metal ones. I need to reconsider that.

 

[Indus]

If you guys think its bad in the US, you have absolutely no clue of how bad it is overseas..

When people get off work and are too tired to cook, there's hot food cooked ready to go so you can eat at home.. complete with microplastics because of the plastic bags they're put in.





Atleast the elderly vendors still prefer using green leaf bowls and banana leaves

 

[sandorski]

I stopped nuking stuff in plastic years ago. I still have the bad habit of reusing water bottles for the gym because I was losing my metal ones. I need to reconsider that.

Any soft plastic water bottle is trash. Recently started using an empty hard plastic bottle I bought water in and it's so much better. Probably still not the best, but my water doesn't taste like plastic an hour later any more. Glass would be best, but breakage and weight make it less attractive.

 

[Mai72]

Any soft plastic water bottle is trash. Recently started using an empty hard plastic bottle I bought water in and it's so much better. Probably still not the best, but my water doesn't taste like plastic an hour later any more. Glass would be best, but breakage and weight make it less attractive.

The problem is microplastics are literally everywhere. Its even in our clothing, which contaminates our water supply when washed.

 

[HomerJS]

Any soft plastic water bottle is trash. Recently started using an empty hard plastic bottle I bought water in and it's so much better. Probably still not the best, but my water doesn't taste like plastic an hour later any more. Glass would be best, but breakage and weight make it less attractive.

I'm ordering a 40oz Iron Flask. Maybe because of its size I won't lose it. I'm at the gym a lot and drink water out of plastic bottles.

No more

 

[Ajay]

I’m more worried about the nearly worldwide distribution of PFOAs and related chemicals which are known to cause birth defects and certain cancers.

 

[Captante]

Any soft plastic water bottle is trash. Recently started using an empty hard plastic bottle I bought water in and it's so much better. Probably still not the best, but my water doesn't taste like plastic an hour later any more. Glass would be best, but breakage and weight make it less attractive.

Glass or stainless is all I use these days for water .... VERY occasionally I'll buy a bottle of water in plastic when I'm out somewhere but that's about it.

I stopped using plastic in the microwave after reading an article in consumer-reports about heat leeching chemicals out of plastics in the mid-1990's. (this isn't new information)

 

[H T C]

I'm not entirely sure of this but i believe this to be a consequence of our attempts to make plastic "greener" by making it biodegradable (referring to plastic bags here), as opposed to "harder plastic" that "sticks around" for quite some time. Because it decomposes much faster than "the old plastic", it also creates these micro-plastics that much faster, hence the current predicament.

The idea to make the plastic "greener" is a good one and it's application does seem a proper one: unfortunately, there are unintended consequences ... makes me wonder it the "old, more durable plastics" were better ...

 

[Jaskalas]

Microplastics were found in human blood for the first time. Long term effects are unknown.

It is far too late for us, whatever the consequences are to our health we WILL suffer it. But we should not condemn future generations to this toxic contaminate.

Perhaps the picture is becoming clearer. While it is merely a correlation, rising cancer along with rising carcinogens in our blood and in our organs is a match that cannot be ignored. Yet we will not act because we have bathed our entire planet in oil and plastic. So that the effort to stop has serious industrial and economic consequences that we can quantify, we can point to our responsibility, shriek, and run the other direction. Humanity WILL be that fabled frog boiling as the heat turns up.

Who needs a nuclear holocaust, when you have modern industrial pollution to do the job instead?

A global epidemic of cancer among people younger than 50 could be emerging

A new review of cancer registry records from 44 countries found that the incidence of early-onset cancers is rising rapidly for colorectal and 13 other types of cancers, many of which affect the digestive system, and this increase is happening across many middle- and high-income nations.​

...​

The younger you are, the higher the risk​

Ogino’s review found something called a cohort effect, meaning the risk of an early-onset cancer has increased for each successive group of people born at a later time. Those born the 1990s have a higher risk of developing an early-onset cancer in their lifetime than those born in the 1980s, for example.​

​

Other malignancies going up in younger Americans include those in the breast, endometrium, gall bladder and bile duct, kidney, pancreas, thyroid, stomach and plasma cells in the blood – a cancer called myeloma.​

​

Dr. Karen Knudson, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, calls the review “a call to arms.”​

 

[hal2kilo]

Its everywhere.

Microplastics found in breast milk of healthy mothers for first time in new health fear for babies | Daily Mail Online

 

[Mai72]

If you guys think its bad in the US, you have absolutely no clue of how bad it is overseas..

When people get off work and are too tired to cook, there's hot food cooked ready to go so you can eat at home.. complete with microplastics because of the plastic bags they're put in.

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View attachment 65294

Atleast the elderly vendors still prefer using green leaf bowls and banana leaves
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View attachment 65296

Yea, I noticed this when I lived in Asia. Everything is wrapped in plastic, and the cooked food is siiting in the sun, and in plastic. Its going to be a HUGE problem in the future. Cancer will be a big issue in Asia.

 

[Mai72]

Perhaps the picture is becoming clearer. While it is merely a correlation, rising cancer along with rising carcinogens in our blood and in our organs is a match that cannot be ignored. Yet we will not act because we have bathed our entire planet in oil and plastic. So that the effort to stop has serious industrial and economic consequences that we can quantify, we can point to our responsibility, shriek, and run the other direction. Humanity WILL be that fabled frog boiling as the heat turns up.

Who needs a nuclear holocaust, when you have modern industrial pollution to do the job instead?

A global epidemic of cancer among people younger than 50 could be emerging

A new review of cancer registry records from 44 countries found that the incidence of early-onset cancers is rising rapidly for colorectal and 13 other types of cancers, many of which affect the digestive system, and this increase is happening across many middle- and high-income nations.​

...​

The younger you are, the higher the risk​

Ogino’s review found something called a cohort effect, meaning the risk of an early-onset cancer has increased for each successive group of people born at a later time. Those born the 1990s have a higher risk of developing an early-onset cancer in their lifetime than those born in the 1980s, for example.​

​

Other malignancies going up in younger Americans include those in the breast, endometrium, gall bladder and bile duct, kidney, pancreas, thyroid, stomach and plasma cells in the blood – a cancer called myeloma.​

​

Dr. Karen Knudson, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, calls the review “a call to arms.”​

In America, our food and diet is killing the young. maybe its just me, but I've noticed that young people don't eat salads anymore. Its fast food, deserts like ice cream, soda, chips, and candy. Now, imagine if this was your diet for the next 20 years. Is it any wonder that cancer rates are sky rocketing. Then add in the microplastics, and oil. Its going to be a nightmare.

 

[Captante]

All you need to do to realize the scope of the problem is to READ the ingredients AND the nutrition per serving label. (bonus-points if you pay attention to the serving SIZE which is often unrealistically tiny to make the food appear healthier)

Also NEARLY EVERYTHING food-wise is packed in plastic!

The problem is that processed food packed in plastic bags is just so easy!





In fact the last "convenient" plastic things I still use in cooking are the few Tupperware containers I have left and occasionally "steam-in-bag" veggies.... which I'm fully aware are horrible for both me AND the environment!

I'm even trying to replace all my plastic utensils that touch anything hot with stainless steel or wood.

 

[hal2kilo]

I'm not entirely sure of this but i believe this to be a consequence of our attempts to make plastic "greener" by making it biodegradable (referring to plastic bags here), as opposed to "harder plastic" that "sticks around" for quite some time. Because it decomposes much faster than "the old plastic", it also creates these micro-plastics that much faster, hence the current predicament.

The idea to make the plastic "greener" is a good one and it's application does seem a proper one: unfortunately, there are unintended consequences ... makes me wonder it the "old, more durable plastics" were better ...

Oh it's much worse than people think.

Big Plastic Wants You to Think You Can Recycle Your Yogurt Container – Mother Jones

“Overall accessibility for plastic recycling has dropped, if anything,” said John Hocevar, Greenpeace’s oceans campaign director. In recent years, labor shortages and high prices for recycled materials have caused cuts in curbside recycling programs, and many MRFs have stopped accepting most plastic resins.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Just an FYI, if you're in the Bay Area, look for Strauss Family Creamery Milk. Generally about the same price as any other milk, but comes in a glass bottle that you return to the store and cross shipped back to the bottling facility, cleaned, refilled, and sent back to the store. No more disposable plastic milk cartons.

The price is the milk is a bit higher upfront because you pay a buck or two for the glass bottle deposit, but then you get the money back when you return the old bottles, making the milk cost the same as the jug stuff (tastes incredible and comes with a "plug" of cream on top, which the family tends to fight over cause its delicious).

I'd love to see this idea just get more popular and widespread with a lot of stuff that normally comes in plastic containers.

Wife and I were up in Point Reyes for our anniversary and drove out to the light house. Bunch of Strauss farms on the way and those looked like some f'ing happy cows if I ever saw any. Live better than I do god damn it.