“We are being choked to death by the amount of plastic that we throw away. It’s killing our oceans. It’s entering into our bodies in the fish we eat.”
Kevin Bacon.
While many of us might be briefly aware of the presence of microplastics present in the oceans from some of the graphic images with organisms with plastic-filled intestines, are you aware that we might be breathing microplastics unknowingly too?
Just like the last few posts, I will base the content of this post on these videos on some of the problems brought about microplastics on the environment and our health:
Summary
- 350 million tonnes of plastics are produced every year and this figure will continue to rise in the coming years with increasing globalisation. Of which 8 million tonnes of plastic trash would end up in the oceans annually.
- Plastics will be broken down into smaller pieces (otherwise known as microplastics) when they reach the oceans and circulated in ocean gyres.
- Microplastics are very durable and do not degrade easily, and they have a large surface area. They usually range from around 5mm to 1 nanometre that would allow other toxins like DDTs to stick onto them.
- These microplastics are often mistaken as plankton and algae and are ingested by marine organisms, which are responsible for the deaths of these organisms, and these microplastics can also be biomagnified along the food chain.
- In many parts of the world, the way to get rid of plastics always involve the burning and incineration of plastics, that would release toxic gases like dioxins and furans, along with small traces of microplastics in the air. When microplastics enter our bodies through the food that we consume or the air that we breathe in, there could be adverse impacts on our respiratory systems, especially when these microplastics are non-degradable and long-lasting.
- Furthermore, the health impacts of microplastics in our bodies are still unknown even up until today, which makes them more uncertain and dangerous. However, some studies tried to predict the health impacts brought about by these microplastics, and some of them reviewed that the increasing amounts of BPAs and PETs (basically toxic materials) in our blood are correlated to increased rates of cancer.
My Thoughts
Before watching these videos, I knew the existence of microplastics present in the oceans, especially from all the climate change posters that showed graphic images of dissected animals full of plastics on the inside. However, what was surprising to me was that microplastics can also be present in some the clothes made up of synthetic materials! This could mean that there is a very high possibility that there could be microplastics floating around in our homes now, and there is also a chance that we might be breathing in microplastics too. I am not sure about you, but I do feel a bit uneasy when I first heard about this. I mean, who knows, maybe even some of our favourite condiments that comes from the sea – like salt, could have bits and pieces of microplastics attached to them as well – which might (or might not) enhance the flavouring in food HAHA
Okay jokes aside, although the health impacts of microplastics largely remained as a mystery now, we cannot discount the fact that these microplastics are artificial materials that could potentially harm our body systems in ways that are unknown to us yet. I feel that the impacts that microplastics have on other organisms are already quite tragic and unfortunate, and I think that humans could be affected in similar ways too. The idea of uncertainties does scare me, and I think that there are things to be done to prevent further escalation of this problem. By making some effort to resolve this problem, I think that it would definitely be a win-win situation for us and the environment – the earth would endure a lesser degree of environmental damage in terms of land and air pollution, and humans would have a lesser chance of suffering from unknown health impacts brought about by inhaling or ingesting too much microplastics over a prolonged period.
No matter how small our efforts are, they do go a long way. Undeniably, plastics do play an indispensable role in our world today. However, if we can make small conscious efforts, such as using reusable products like water bottles to replace those disposable single-use plastic mineral water bottles, our collective efforts would make a huge difference in the long run! This way, lesser (micro)plastic waste would be generated and reach our oceans, which would mean that there is a lesser chance of us humans ingesting and inhaling them too!
For more food for thought, here’s a TED Talk if you are interested in learning more:
Disappearing into thin air,
Yuin Chi
Air Pollution 