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FirstBankofAngmar t1_irclkum wrote

On a more existential bend, there will never be another time in our world's history when their wasn't plastic in everything. We're in a post-plastic world. It's everywhere and in everything. Hard to wrap your head around, but hopefully, HOPEFULLY, it will not be too much of an issue with a slow change toward developments of its breakdown. Honestly, there's something so 20th century about using a material that lasts for thousands of years but use it for everything disposable.

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berandomnes t1_irdapxl wrote

Like all steel made post nuclear, it's "contaminated" just by how humanity has changed the global environment. We are beavers on a planetary scale, in the worst way possible. we are flooding the "valley" our planet, with excess pollutants while taking far to many resources to build our dams and feed our lodges. Its just not sustainable, like the cycle between predator and prey, a good year for the lynx is a bad year for the rabbit, we are gonna burn out like lynx and mother nature rabbit is going to eat our lunch, dinner and house.

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MartinSensmeier t1_ire3yge wrote

Microplastics in the air though, that seems on a whole nother scale.

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pipnina t1_ireew37 wrote

How does steel freshly made from hematite (for example) and put through an electric arc furnace get contaminated with nuclear waste? Or is it just that the atmosphere is contaminated?

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berandomnes t1_irem1kr wrote

The increased background radiation in the atmosphere is the source of contamination

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Empirical_Spirit t1_ircnhbk wrote

Hopefully we don’t wrap it around our heads with plastic.

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Self-rescuingQueen t1_ircwuhr wrote

Doesn't matter. Microplastic has already been found in human blood.

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Legitimate_Bat3240 t1_irdo7p3 wrote

Apparently donating plasma reduces forever chemicals from the blood

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Bleux33 t1_irdtkpf wrote

I’m guessing due to the generation of ‘new’ blood to stabilize blood volume, post donation. The entire process dilutes foreign substance concentration overall, by natural recovery processes in response to blood lose.

In simpler terms, bad blood goes out, bad stuff goes out. The blood is replaced, the bad stuff isn’t….at least, not as quickly. Like flushing a radiator…kinda…maybe…

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Empirical_Spirit t1_ircx9cl wrote

Despite slowing breath considerably in this lifetime, I cling to it yet and prefer the plastic naught to be wrapped too tightly.

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KnotSoSalty t1_irdmgj5 wrote

Your assuming that biological organisms won’t adapt to consume plastics eventually? In a long enough time scale doesn’t it seem likely that everything man made will disappear?

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wolffinZlayer3 t1_irdswee wrote

Already is in some rare cases. Also kinda one of those things that siunds good on the outside but u look into it and it starts to get scary quick. Food packaging home siding and medical equipment for example losing significant lifespan/shelf life.

And its not an if, its a when there is ALOT of energy stored in plastics.

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BobThePillager t1_irexwfs wrote

Ya whichever organism that can spread and reproduce while living off of processed petrochemicals first is gonna have a field day. What are the implications of this? Can’t be good

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tabac-en-paris t1_irdo5yh wrote

We see a lot of discussion about how they find nano plastics in lots of places. I’ve not seen much discussion of what the consequences are of that. What are the Consequences?

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HappiestIguana t1_irds8ee wrote

Basically, we don't know. The problem is we haven't found any population of humans without blood microplastics, so we can't compare a population with them to one without.

If there are ill effects, they seem to be small, considering life expentancy has continued to rise across the globe despite the increase in microplastics (with a hiccup due to Covid). Possibly a study could be made that compares a population of animals raised on a very specific, filtered diet free of microplastics to one that receives the same diet but unfiltered (and perhaps even a third population with a diet that is deliberately laced with higher doses of microplastics). No guarantees that this will translate to humans, but it would be a start. In any case research is ongoing.

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Spaceork3001 t1_irduq2x wrote

Couldn't large scale studies pry apart some correlation between the amount of microplastics and the incidence of different diseases? If controlled sufficiently for similar lifestyles, this could potentially point us in the right direction, without needing to find a subpopulation with zero microplastics in their blood.

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HappiestIguana t1_irfirjb wrote

The problem there is confounding factors. Microplastic exposure is largely based on geography and socioeconomic class, which are both heavily correlated with health outcomes and have been since before microplastics.

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Spaceork3001 t1_irg3mz3 wrote

That's what I meant with being controlled for similar lifestyles. If factors like wealth, education, BMI, drug use, medical history and so on are held constant, and microplastics amount in blood scales with some type of disease, it could point us in the right direction, no? Without having to necessarily study populations without microplastics exposure.

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bakinpants t1_irdihnx wrote

Naive. Look up how long wood was a blight on the planet before it became consumable to something. Life...ah.. yea.

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TheGreat_War_Machine t1_ired6fo wrote

>Honestly, there's something so 20th century about using a material that lasts for thousands of years but use it for everything disposable.

That sounds more like the current century. Weren't a lot of appliances built to last decades ago?

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