The dangers of microplastics
With recent research, it appears that retiring plastic from our lives should be an expedited process. About a month ago it was reported that microplastics had been found in human blood.
The finding was supported in a study co- authored by Professor Vethaak, who asked the question if the particles retained in the body or transported to certain organs. These are questions that scientific research has yet to answer, showing the dubious knowledge we have on the effect of such an invasive material on our bodies and our culture.
We have learned to shake hands with this devilish commodity, holding its hand while we carry groceries, and unknowingly consuming it in the food we eat. Even worse, infants are the most vulnerable to it. Babies often play and interact with plastic items from birth. From chewing on plastic teething rings to playing with plastic tub toys, children have a lot of exposure to plastic and its additives. According to a study released in September 2021, that exposure may be cause for concern.
We need to urge our local governments to support bills that limit our usage of single- use plastics that are very often dumped into our environments, whether that is holding businesses and manufacturers accountable through taxes or even making environmentally- friendly packaging more accessible.
One of these types of plastics that can be found in our blood is polyethylene, the kind used in carrying bags and food containers. This type of plastic has the highest propensity to be dangerous because plastic bags are an extremely common occurrence in our trash. Due to winds, and careless littering, they have also been a plague on the natural world.
Plastic can be found in our solid and liquid waste. It can damage human cells and be found in placentas, the essential organ that babies live off until birth. It can be deduced from this that there is a potential for cancer risks and for us to be born with these invasive plastics in us. Truly chilling.
We have an opportunity to ban these bags. The risk of future generations having embedded plastics in their diet and bodies should veto any argument for convenience.
It isn't just the potential for invasive plastics to ruin our health that's terrifying, but the fact that our hubris as a factory- fueled civilization has led to this point; that for those who take part in its norms, come with the risk of having an infamously irremovable man- made unnatural material within them.
Plastic is just as bad as lead, a material also commonly used for its time but if not, even worse. It was a material widely used in paint, car gas, and toys. With research, though, scientists figured out the psychological and physical tolls of lead, and now we use it far less openly. At least paint companies no longer advertise how great lead paint is to the youth.
As animals and agricultural goods get exposed to these plastics even trace amounts of it - they permanently become a part of the ecosystem, ecosystems we feed ourselves from today. It can get in our salt, our water from leaching plastic bottles we drink, or from pollution which even filters cannot get rid of completely, and even at that, it is unfortunate a solution is in a paywall.
It is important we take measures into our own hands and support the banning of plastic bags within a mass- market scale, urging our lawmakers that short- term inconveniences are no excuse for long- term detriments the likes of which we haven't even researched enough to know, with one thing being certain, our manufactured material will prove malicious.