It’s Already Inside Us
Microplastics are not just an environmental problem affecting nature. They’re in our blood [1], lungs [2], placentas [3], brains [4], and breast milk [5]. Every human tissue scientists have tested so far has come back contaminated. In diseased tissue samples of people with chronic illnesses (IBD [6], Dementia [7], heart disease [8]), microplastic prevalence is significantly higher than healthy tissue.
The Trajectory Is Clear
Every new study finds higher microplastic concentrations in human tissue than the last. Most recently, we found a 50% increase in brain tissue microplastic prevalence over the past 8 years [9]. The burden on the human body is compounding: what we take in today stays with us for decades, and future generations are born contaminated. That’s not even mentioning nanoplastics, which we weren’t able to detect until 10 years ago [10].
What the Mice Tell Us
Mice exposed to higher doses of microplastics develop gut inflammation [11], hormone disruption [12], infertility [13], developmental delays [14], and organ damage [15]. The doses they are tested with are higher than ours… for now. But the global plastic load is increasing exponentially, and the gap is closing.
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