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Sunday, March 12th, 2023

Plastic particles could cross over from mother to unborn fetus, experts say

Author:     Nicole Karlis
Source:     Salon
Publication Date:     MARCH 8, 2023 | 12:00PM (EST)
 Link: Plastic particles could cross over from mother to unborn fetus, experts say
Stephan:  

When most people think about plastic waste they seem to think about plastic bottles that have been thrown away. That's a threat to the environment to be sure. But it is when plastic breaks down into teeny tiny bits -- microplastics -- that the real danger occurs. This story ought to seriously scare you. So why isn't anyone in Congress talking about it?

Pregnant Belly | Microplastics  Photo illustration by Salon / Getty

The price we pay for living in an industrial civilization is reading alarming news about pollutants, from PCBs to PFAS to microplastics. Microplastics, extremely small pieces of plastic debris that flake off of industrial waste and plastic consumer products, are believed to be causing adverse health effects in nearly every form of life on Earth that they touch. Yet there’s an even bigger threat to human health that is, paradoxically, smaller in size: nanoplastics. 

Researchers fed five pregnant rats nanoplastics, focusing on the potential effect of ingesting such pollutants.

As the “nano-” prefix implies, nanoplastics are very small pieces of plastic, less than 100 nanometers in size, that are released into the environment as a result of plastic disintegration. It is currently estimated that an estimated six billion metric tons of plastic waste has been deposited in the environment. While nanoplastics have been identified in our collective food chain, and some research has shown that they can affect marine life, their […]

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1 Comment

  1. Albus Eddie on Monday, March 13, 2023 at 5:33 am

     So why isn’t anyone in Congress talking about it? Kicking the can down the road has long been a Congressional past time. After all, why deal with a problem today when it can be put off until tomorrow? Members of Congress are not elected to proactively solve problems. They are elected to implement the policy agendas of their financial sponsors.