Microplastics are there everywhere – the health care blog

By Kim Bellard

Vaccine experts become thugs in response to RFK JR attacks against vaccine safety. Health insurers promise – honest … this time – to make previous authorizations less heavy (but not, of course, eliminate them). Chatgpt and other LLM can worsen us on learning. So much to write, but I find myself wanting to return to a now familiar subject: microplastics.

I spoke for the first time on the microplastics in 2020, and the subsequent results made me write again on their dangers at least once a year since. Now there are again new discoveries, and no, the news is still not good.

A new study, researchers from Food Packaging Forum, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Sciences and Technology (EWAG) and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and published in NPJ Science of Food Examined 103 previous studies on impact food packaging and “food contact articles (FCAS)” may have on micro and nanoplastics (MNP) in our food. They found that even normal use – such as opening a plastic bottle, soaking a plastic tea bag or cutting it on a plastic cutting board – can contaminate food.

“This is the first systematic evidence card to study the role of the normal and expected use of food contact articles in the contamination of foodstuffs with MNP,” explains Dr Lisa Zimmermann, senior author and responsible for scientific communication at the Food packaging. “Food contact articles are a relevant source of MNP in foodstuffs; However, their contribution to the exhibition to the human MNP is underestimated. ”

Their data collected is freely accessible via the FCMino dashboard., Which allows users to filter the data included by the type of FCA, the main food contact material, the analyzed environment and if the MNP have been detected, and if so, for their size and type of polymer.

The removal of the plastic from the items you buy from the grocery store can contaminate it by microplastics, just like the caliber of a tea bag. Simply opening jars or bottles of milk can also, and a repeated opening and closing of glass or perplexed plastic bottles of “incalculable quantities” of microphone and nanoplastics in the drink, according to Dr. Zimmerman, who also noted: “Research shows the number of microplastics increases with each opening of a bottle, so we can say that using it from the food contact article.

Dr. Zimmerman said The Washington Post: “Plastic is present everywhere. We must know what we can do.” Examples of what she suggests that we can try to do it to avoid storing plastic foods whenever possible and avoid the heating of plastic containers. However, she admitted: “We did not really understand all the factors that can lead to the release of micro and nanoplastics.”

One of its co-authors, the DRE Jane Muncke, Director General and Scientific Director of Food Packaging Forum, warns that ultra-revised foods have more risk of contamination: “There are a higher number of manufacturing steps with ultra-development foods, which can increase contact time with plastic transformation equipment,

Dr. Muncke thinks that their research is a step in the right direction:

This systematic evidence card helps to fill gaps in knowledge of MNP source in foodstuffs. However, it also shows that additional research is necessary to better characterize the MNP migration linked to FCA materials and uses. Above all, the implementation of a harmonized test and report framework is essential to guarantee reliable and comparable data, which can shed light on future political decisions.

David Andrews, Director of Acting Sciences at the Environmental Working Group, said Cnn: “This new study highlights the packaging and processing equipment of food as potentially important sources of microplastic contamination in the foods we eat, and finally in our body. This study should increase alarm bells.”

It should indeed.

Here is another study that illustrates that our expectations concerning microplastic risks are not always valid. Researchers from the Food Agency in the State of France Anses have found that drinks sold in glass bottles have actually more Microplastics in them than those in plastic bottles. Cola glass, lemonade, icy and beer bottles had at least five times the amount of particles than the bottles or plastic cans.

“We expected an opposite result when we compared the level of microplastics in different drinks sold in France,” said doctoral student Iseline Chaib, who conducted research. It turns out that the bottles on the bottles are the problem. Ms. Chaib explained: “We then noticed that in the glass, the particles emerging from the samples were the same shape, the same color and the polymer composition – therefore the same plastic – as the paint outside the caps which seal the glass bottles.”

Remember what Dr. Zimmerman warned against the dangers of the repeated opening and closing of bottles?

The team suggested that manufacturers use a cleaning method for blowing air in traffic jams and rising with water and alcohol, which could reduce contamination by 60%. Consumers were also advised to rinse the ceilings before putting them back.

Finally and above all, a document from the undergraduate student in biology from the University of Virginia -Western Isabella Tuzzio tested the presence of microplastics in the fish from the central appearances – and found them in all the sampled fish. Each fish was on average 40 pieces of microplastics.

The document concludes: “Overall, we conclude that microplastic contamination is present and widespread in freshwater ecosystems in the North Center and the regions of the surrounding Appalaches in three main watersheds (Monongahela, cheat and Ohio Watersheds) … Potential sources of microplastic pollution.

“Microplastics come from daily sources such as the synthetic fibers of washer and plastic pearls in exfoliating face washes,” said Ms. Tuzzio. “They are now everywhere, from our rivers to the distant deserts and even the human body.”

She thinks we should worry:

These plastics are low, but their impact is massive. They wear pollutants, heavy metals and antibiotics. And while the microplastics are distributed in smaller fish, the biggest fish eat these small fish. When you progress in the food chain, there are highly concentrated levels of these plastics. This is a problem for them and for us too.

I am very worried. We know that microplastics are everywhere, from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the atmosphere, and everywhere between the two. We know that they are throughout our food system and in our entire body. We do not yet have enough data on exactly what the health risks of all this exposure are, but we have enough evidence for it not good.

I will agree that microplastics are on the RFK JR radar, but I certainly want it to move it before undermining confidence in vaccines or eliminating food dyes.

Kim is a former Emarketing leader in a major blues plan, editor Dye.ioand now a regular THCB contributor