Nanoplastics are even smaller, ranging in size from 1 to 1000 nanometers, This means they can be anywhere from the width of a strand of DNA to the size of a smoke particle.
But where are these plastic particles coming from? The answer, unfortunately, is everywhere.
Plastics were invented as a replacement for ivory. The popularity of billiards in the late 1800s had put a strain on the amount of ivory that could be collected from killing elephants, and a suitable alternative was sought out.
Plastics are made from polymers: long chains of atoms that, depending on how those atoms are arranged, can make a material that is durable and flexible.
The first synthetic polymer was based on a naturally occurring polymer: cellulose. It’s what gives plants the ability to support their own weight as they grow upwards.
Now plastics are made from petroleum and other fossil fuels, and they are simply everywhere.
Anywhere you find plastic, you also find micro- and nanoplastics.
For example, a polyester fiber that’s broken free from a piece of clothing in the washing machine and makes its way into the water system.
From there, a microplastic could end up in the ocean, or as part of the water that that grows your food supply, being taken up by crops from the soil.
If the microplastics are small enough, they could make their way from the bovine intestines to the muscle, and eventually into a
Another example is the rubber dust that’s produced when tires rub against pavement. Because the plastics are so very small at this point, they can be inhaled by a passerby without them ever knowing.
Once in the human lungs, microplastics can enter the bloodstream and travel to the testicles, the kidneys, or the heart! All places where plastic particles have been found.
If the microplastics are inhaled by a pregnant person, they could also make our way into the placenta.
Another common way that people are exposed to microplastics is through plastic containers full of food that needs to be microwaved.
Studies have found that just three minutes of microwaving can release millions of microplastics and billions of nanoplastics into the food or liquid you’re heating up.
It’s true that micro- and nanoplastics are everywhere, including inside our own bodies, but are they harmful?
We have a real need for more data in humans, but a number of studies have begun suggesting a link between micro-nano particles and increased risk of inflammation, cell damage, immune dysfunction, organ damage, and even cancers.
The extent of the risk or the level of microplastics needed to cause harm aren’t really known yet.
There is some evidence linking the presence of micro and nanoplastics in fetuses and children to things like impaired fetal development and growth, impaired brain development, motor function, and memory.
But more data is needed to know how much of that is a result of plastics themselves, and how much is the result of known toxic chemicals that might be in the plastics.
PFAS is short for per- or polyfluoroakyl substances and is the name given to a class of human-made chemicals that are known for their resistance to heat, water, and grease.
They are made up of multiple bonds of carbon and fluorine, which are some of the strongest bonds in chemistry. So strong, in fact, that they don’t break down on their own. The fact they don’t easily break down is why they got their nickname of “forever chemicals” which, at first, was a feature instead of a flaw.
Their durability led to them being widely used in things like non-stick coating on pans, grease-proof food packaging, stain protectors, waterproof clothing and cosmetics, firefighting foam, and even dental floss.
Then we found out there could be some cons to lasting forever.
Companies that were producing two of the most toxic PFAS, confusingly called PFOA and PFOS, knew by the 1970s that the chemicals posed significant health risks to their workers, but they didn’t make the knowledge of the risks public until the 1990s when they were getting sued.
And by that point PFAS were honestly in EVERYONE’S blood. That’s actually how they discovered that PFAS exposure had spread beyond the factories.
When researchers tried to compare the levels of PFAS in the blood of workers at these factories to blood without any PFAS, they couldn’t find any blood without them.
Samples from blood banks, which should have been negative, because they were samples from people who had no contact with the factories, were testing positive for the chemicals.
That indicated that the PFAS in common household products like Scotchgard, Teflon, waterproof mascara, and more had found their way out of those products and into the bloodstream of average Americans. Every American actually.
If you’re wondering if you too have PFAS in your blood, the answer is most likely yes. Even today, nearly all Americans have some measurable level of PFAS in their blood.
But are PFAS in your blood causing a problem? Well, it really depends.
There’s a saying in health and medicine: “The dose makes the poison.”
High levels of specific PFAS have been associated with an increased risk of certain cancers, increased cholesterol, decreases in immune response, and impaired fetal and infant growth and development, with less strong evidence for other health problems such as additional cancers or thyroid dysfunction.
While these chemicals are found everywhere, their concentrations are not equal, and the people most at risk for getting sick are those who have high levels of exposure or are part of a vulnerable population.
This includes people who work in factories where PFAS are produced, or live in areas that have PFAS producing factories that are highly contaminating water.
Firefighters or people who live near firefighting training centers are also potentially at increased risk due to the use of Aqueous Film Forming Foam that is used on certain fires and contains PFAS.
Vulnerable groups include pregnant people and their fetuses, children, the elderly, and the medically compromised.
The precise connection between PFAS and disease needs much more research for us to get a clear picture of the levels at which people become ill.
The studies we currently have are based mostly on observation. You look at a group of people with high levels of PFAS in their blood and compare their rates of disease to people with lower levels of PFAS in their blood.
But these kinds of studies are subject to what are called “confounding factors.”
To borrow a perfect example from Ellie Murray at the University of Boston’s School of Public Health – Let’s say you’re studying the effects of living near a factory, and you find that a lot of people who live near this factory have lung cancer.
You might reasonably think that there’s an association between living near the factory and getting cancer. However, there are other things about living near a factory that might also contribute to your risk of cancer.
This could be something like, the neighborhood around the factory is working class and the people that live there are more likely to smoke cigarettes.
Smoking cigarettes is a “confounding factor” because it’s possible that THAT behavior is actually responsible for the outcome we are studying – in this example, lung cancer.
This is a problem we have when it comes to fine tuning our understanding of the impact of PFAS on people’s health.
But it makes sense that the less exposure you have to PFAS, the less risk you have of developing health issues as a result.
Let’s talk about how PFAS could potentially get into your body.
Let’s think about a bottle of pesticide. You might assume the PFAS are within the pesticide itself, after all the chemicals are potentially toxic and the goal of pesticides is to kill.
Actually, the PFAS are in the bottle that contains the pesticide. They’re used to prevent the pesticide from eating through the plastic, but they’re leaching into the pesticide itself and then being sprayed on crops.
The PFAS are taken up by the crops, and then those crops are used to make livestock feed. So now the cattle are eating feed that has PFAS in them, and we are eating the beef from that cattle and getting the PFAS ourselves
It’s also possible there are plastics or chemicals in your life that aren’t known to have PFAS in them, but as they are used, or worn, or processed their chemical composition breaks down into PFAS, and then those chemicals get washed into the water system.
This water could end up being your drinking water, or used on crops, or simply goes out into the ocean, where it gets into the fish you
Because these chemicals are so durable, even with all these little field trips through waterways and bodies, they are able to not only persist, but also build up in the environment over time, where other chemicals would break down.
How do you get away from PFAS? And micro plastics for that matter?
The reality is that you can’t get away from them. Not entirely at least. There are thousands of different kinds of PFAS, and plastic is so completely integrated into our lives that it can’t be eliminated completely. But you, and government policies, can do things to reduce your exposure.
Some of your potential exposure can be limited through government action, and this has worked before.
In the early 2000s, the Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA) worked with major manufactures of some of the most prevalent PFAS to phase out these chemicals, and as a result, the levels of four PFAS that were commonly found in the blood of the population have significantly declined.
This means things like microwave popcorn bags, fast food wrappers, to-go containers and pet food bags that are used in the U.S. will no longer use these chemicals. Being that diet is one of the main routes of exposure to PFAS that people have, this is a good move!
Drinking water is the other top source of exposure for most people, and in April, the EPA announced the final rules for the maximum contamination levels in drinking water for six of the most highly-studied PFAS.
For example, PFOA and PFOS, which are two kinds of forever chemicals that have been phased out since the early 2000s but persist in the environment, can’t be present at a concentration greater than four parts per trillion. That’s the equivalent to one drop of water in five Olympic swimming pools.
Some state and local municipalities already have limits on PFAS in water, but standardizing it across the country, and providing assistance to private well owners to monitor and remove PFAS, is going to be a huge help.
The new rules give public water systems three years to complete their monitoring for PFAS, and five years to implement solutions if their levels are too high.
What can you do in the meantime if you’re concerned?
For both PFAS and microplastics, the best answer is water filters. Reverse osmosis filters are the best, but they are expensive to install and tricky to maintain. Some carbon filters can also work surprisingly well to remove PFAS, as long as you change those filters with the recommended frequency.
The real question is what to do with those spent carbon filters, given PFAS are hard to destroy and can persist in the environment. Right now, they go to landfills, but researchers have recently discovered a way to break down many kinds of PFAS using relatively harmless chemicals and low heat, which will hopefully inspire more research in the area.
Phase out your cookware that might contain PFAS and replace it with things like stainless steel, blue steel, cast iron, or even some ceramic items instead.
When it comes to microplastics, aside from removing all plastic from your life, one of the most important things is to never microwave anything in a plastic container. Ever. Just don’t. Use glass or ceramics
And lastly, keep a tidy house. Both microplastics and PFAS from your household products like to attach to dust. And considering children are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of these elements, and children tend to spend more time on the floor, a regular sweeping schedule can also help reduce risk.
