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ChessCheeseAlpha t1_jcabwv8 wrote

Dupont owes the world an explanation and reparations

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RRoyale57 t1_jcag1of wrote

DuPont invented polyester and it’s in everything!!!! It’s literally polyethylene that’s made to feel like cotton but it’s plastic! That nice super plush blanket you have is most likely made of 100% polyester. Now go cuddle up with it for 8 hours. Then wake up and put on clothing that contains it too. It’s everywhere!

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KahuTheKiwi t1_jcc9b4l wrote

Along with the pollution and micro fibre threats it also affects fire safety. For instance I have read that in the 1950s average time to flashover (when enough heat is generated from a fire to spontaneously ignite other objects) was 25 minutes. And it is now 15. This is due to the amount of oil in a modern house - carpets, furniture, clothing, etc being made of oil products; polyester, plastic, etc, as opposed to the slower to ignite products like wool, wood, etc.

Ironically cars and resulting congestion means that for the city I heard this discussed about (Auckland, New Zealand), in the 1950 a fire engine could reach any house in 15 mi utes but it is now up to 30 minutes at times of the day.

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riazrahman t1_jcacrmg wrote

They found micro plastic would disrupt neural crest cells of developing embryos, but are most developing embryos in the world exposed to those levels of microplastics yet is my question

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RecoveringGrocer t1_jcb5zqf wrote

From the article:

> We used a high concentration of polystyrene particles, that would normally not be present in an organism. But it shows what nano-plastics can do in extreme cases on very young embryos.

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LordIndica t1_jcb3f7n wrote

We have found detectable levels of microplastics in all parts of the human placenta: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020322297

It would seem the answer is "yes", depending on the region you are pregnant in.

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DooDooSlinger t1_jccifkt wrote

The answer is no. The question is not about detectable levels but about levels comparable to these leading to the effects in the article. The article itself mentions that the levels are not even remotely close to those found in any organism.

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Lyotan t1_jccv1mr wrote

You asked the right question. So I spent 2 hours reading this paper and the recent study on microplastics in human blood. (linked near the end of the paper)

Fair warning i am not a qualified scientist.

1st, the metrics aren't truly comparable because we aren't good at measuring microplastics yet? This paper used known lab prepared samples. Meanwhile, the blood study was very limited by the minimum level of detecting any quantity of plastic and inability to count the number or size of particles.

2nd, the blood study restricted itself to filtering out only microplastics >700nm, the chicken study used a few 1,000nm and 500nm particles for certain parts of the experiment but the most work was done with 25nm specifically because it was the most lethal to chicks in their previous study.

3rd, and possibly most important, the point of this paper was to find where the nanoplastics preferred to go in embryo development and if they had any specific potential effects. ESPECIALLY in regards to new microplastics based medication and treatment options being explored right now.

TLDR: After looking at the human blood study concentrations and how much passes through the placenta, we aren't nearly at the level used in the chicken experiment. But microplastic levels are only going to increase, even if we all stop using plastic today. Importantly, microplastic medication/treatments in development need to take extra cautions in further study.

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MovingClocks t1_jcdy9m9 wrote

How do you even treat this? It’s physical damage, like asbestos. It’s not virus, bacteria, or genetic change that can be medicated for

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Lyotan t1_jcen28t wrote

Oh I have no idea, unfortunately. The fact that they even have embryonic medications and treatments these days is amazing.

If you read what I typed earlier as "medication for treating microplastic complications", it was intended as "medication based on using microplastics as a key ingredient"

It is in extremely early theoretical testing, it seems? https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.abm5551 The OP paper seems to be suggesting caution on this line of study.

We already have many non plastic nanoparticle medications, and the number is accelerating with technology.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/List-of-globally-marketed-nanomedicines-approved-by-the-FDA-and-the-EMA_tbl1_357704523

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oooshi t1_jcb25x1 wrote

I remember reading recently that all breastfed babies are exposed to micro plastics from their mothers

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mohelgamal t1_jcdiysf wrote

They don’t get exposed to that dose, so the damage would be limited as of now, but overtime, since these PFAs accumulate at a much higher rate than they degrade, the level we are exposed too will rise steadily

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Darryl_Lict t1_jcbdnjr wrote

Welp, the world and humans are even more fucked than I thought. I'm glad I gestated back in the paleolithic era where not everything was plastic.

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Specialist_Carrot_48 t1_jcejgi9 wrote

No we aren't fucked. Because the concentration is way higher than it would ever be in real life.

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Chiperoni t1_jcblmh0 wrote

Not saying microplastics are good, they most certainly are not, but the title is alarmist. They used levels way more than a person would be exposed to and introduced them directly into chicken embryos. I'd think you'd get malformations with tons of seemingly innocuous things at high concentrations.

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KahuTheKiwi t1_jcc9s46 wrote

The early science of threats like this, cigarettes, pesticides, climate change, etc always have to first prove the effect. Later studies can then determine levels and risks.

However given what we know of cigarettes and climate change we can assume the companies making the product are years ahead of well publicised science.

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DooDooSlinger t1_jccj2r7 wrote

That's absolutely not how science works. Give an animal an overdose of any medication or substance and it will die. You can even overdose on water. None of this gives any indication of the potential negative effects of a substance. What matters is to understand the effects of doses actually absorbed by organisms. Nobody would care about a study evaluating the safety of giving 100g of sugar per kg of body weight to children because that doesn't ever happen.

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False-Force-8788 t1_jce3pkr wrote

Anecdotally some workers are exposed to extreme amounts of polyethylene in modern warehouses, they are a small subset of the population.

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Dry_Contact4436 t1_jcdmtnp wrote

well our current and future generations are not gonna function properly

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PsychologicalLuck343 t1_jcfwq2y wrote

Stop wearing plastic clothes, people. Throw them away. Buy natural fabrics and quit supporting fast fashion. It's the least we can do. Polyester, acrylic and nylon are just gross, anyway.

Can't afford a wool or cotton sweater? Save up or buy thrift. Stop following fashion seasons. It's a completely artificial way to value others and yourself. I got a 100% cashmere cable sweater for $15.

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KahuTheKiwi t1_jch8ntc wrote

We need to make it normal (and as it used to be - safe) for worn out clothes to be thrown on the compost heap.

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