Plastic is everywhere and in everything. In water bottles, food containers, clothing items, decorations, personal care products, medical, health, and research equipment, and many more. Regular activities like microwaving food and the use of plastic bottles and containers, especially containing hot beverages and food items, shed millions of specks of plastic that enter the biological system without our notice. We remain completely oblivious to it.
Plastic is being used in the world at an alarming rate. Even newborns have direct exposure to it as they feed from plastic bottles, play with plastic toys, and consume from plastic containers and due to their innocence, they easily ingest these specks by chewing and teething. Isn’t it frightening?
Plastic is in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil we grow, the oceans we dive, the mountains we climb, and the cities and villages we live in. The exposure to plastic in the world is enormous but why should it be a matter of concern? Plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters are called microplastics and particles smaller than 1 micrometer are nano plastics and they take decades to degrade. Without proper decomposition, they remain in their absolute form, accumulating at atomic and cellular levels, mixing with nature when they were never supposed to exist to begin with.
Microplastics are not a part of the natural order of our ecosystem but do they interfere with our environment and habitat? A recent study discovered plastic in the bloodstream, and they recognized it as PET plastic and polystyrene that is used in plastic beverage containers, food wraps, plastics, and carrier bags.
The small size of the plastic specks makes remote biological systems like cells and nuclei easily accessible, where they can directly interact and interfere with the enzymes, genetic material, biological functions, and reactions. There is potential for anything to happen, Anything! There has been awareness in this regard for some time but 400 million tons of plastic are being manufactured every year. Plastic when manufactured is used once and then rendered useless most of the time and discarded. Galloway stated that, “There is no point producing things that last for 500 years and then using them for 20 minutes. It is a completely unsustainable way of being”
Researchers suggest that the specks can also accumulate in vital organs like the lungs, thus impairing the respiratory system. They can severely affect the reproductive system affecting fertility and potentially push the entire species to the verge of extinction. They can interfere with the genetic material, leading to mutations and/or cancer. Inflammation and allergic reactions can also occur. This list is non exhaustive.
Larger particles can cause toxicity and interfere with the endocrine system. The ingestion of these particles has no biological significance and they have no nutritional value.
As observed in the dead turtles, ingestion of plastic deprives one of nutrition and indirectly leads to death. Many studies also debate on reduced reproduction rate due to lower sperm count and lower production of essential components of an eggshell creating a difficulty in hatching. It is no secret that marine life is at threat due to this.
Roman Lehner, a nanomaterial scientist stated that, ‘You are looking for the needle in the haystack, but the needle looks like the hay’. We are aware of the potential threats we are facing, but we don’t have any contingency plan due to the lack of vital data. It is a difficult issue to work on since we are lacking in tracing these particles and do not have any published or verified knowledge of the level of threat we are facing. All the studies are being fundamentally laid as the basis for further exploration but do we have enough time?
One may neglect and ignore the deteriorating future due to lack of specific solutions, but it is the need of the hour to be fearful and reduce the use of plastics in daily life to a minimal level at least for your future generations. The least we can do is try to resolve the damage we already caused and reduce it further since we have already harmed mother nature enough.