Even uncontacted tribes in the middle of nowhere islands probably have microplastics in their blood too. After all, they likely are eating animals that have microplastics. Stuff like this always gets worse the higher up the food chain you get, and humans are pretty high up.
With the amount of trash in the ocean, I wouldn’t be surprised if even an uncontacted tribe is running around in mismatched sandals and drinking out of old plastic bottles.
A guy I watch on YT has done a couple of short shipwreck survival challenges on some of the little islands off the coast of Australia. He starts barefoot and with no supplies and within an hour of scavenging the beach he has a pair of sandals, a half dozen bottles, both plastic and glass, and usually some fishing line or rope.
He’s a laid back Aussie dude that does mostly ocean-based solo beach camping catch and cooks.
I’m on the other side of the world, half a days travel from the ocean, so his channel provides me an interesting and often beautiful perspective of a life very different than my own.
So, the big stink about BPA (a type of plastic) e:below is that it interferes with certain hormones in the body. I don’t know for sure what the concerns are with other microplastics, but I do remember reading they strongly suspect they can do similar things to our endocrine systems, as well as being probable carcinogens.
There was an article i saw on here a few weeks ago about a study linking microplastics to changes in the brain that have been associated with dementia.
As far as we know: almost nothing, but possibly anything. We don’t have an understanding of the effects. So far scientists have said that it could cause lung irritation if airborne, and may have some effect on hormones in the body.
I think theres no hard evidence that its outright causing stuff, but there’s a lot of studies on some correlations. some involve phthalates messing with the male hormones and genitalia for offspring
The problem is that it’s extremely difficult to tease out what the impact is when pretty much everyone is exposed to it and has it in their system. Are there connections between these chemicals and autism or cancer? We are just starting to see the preliminary data on the subject.
For me it’s a matter of not being interested in waiting to find out 30 years down the road. My personal belief is that there is no such thing as food safe plastic and especially not when it’s heated or stored for long periods. I believe that there is and will continue to be a concerted effort to downplay any uncovered impact and to ensure till the last second that no steps are taken to regulate the billion dollar plastics/ manufacturing industry. The spice must flow just as the plastics must flow.
Maybe that’s a bit too far in the conspiracy theory vein but name a more iconic duo than large corporations and covering up known flaws and risks for the sake of profit. If nothing else I do not think you lose anything by shifting to glass and certain metals for cooking and storing food. And steps have to be taken to minimize exposure to food packaging that is sprayed with pfas. Looking at you, literally all fast food packaging.
Couple these revelations with what we know about hyper processed foods and it’s no wonder why so many Americans are dumb as Fuck and have so many health problems. We are being poisoned because of our insistence on convenience. We literally have great options for all of these things that are more sustainable and less toxic but we still can’t be inconvenienced by a paper wrapper on a hamburger that might end up a little wet on the ride home.
Of course even with all these steps there’s only so much one can do when you’re literally inhaling plastic from the atmosphere. But it’s certainly a move in the right direction.
Aye, good for the donor. Presumably not bad for the recipient either, since needing blood means they already lost some so worst case they just have constant levels of microplastics.
Microplastic a found in FUCKING CLOUDS!! That nonsense is absolutely everywhere, and will be there forever. And wherever you go, it’s going to follow you. Rubbish
When I was a kid my mom used to get American cheese sliced behind the deli counter all the time and they always gave us the slices in a stack and it never combined.
I can’t stand American cheese, nasty fake stuff, but I got cheddar cheese slices behind the deli the other week for the first time in awhile. Instead of just slicing it and giving it to me in a bag like every other time in my life, they individually wrapped every slice in a thin plastic. I got home and was like what in the plastic hell is this? So wasteful and it was a real PITA unwrapping it all.
My local grocery is at least nice enough to put paper between each slice to help pull them apart. Individually wrapped in plastic from the deli seems so strange.
Yeah, we’ve really done a fantastic job fucking the world up in the last century. It’s truly incredible that in the blink of an eye, we’ve managed to doom most of the life that exists on our planet.
And it will be the machines we create and build to remove the plastics that it will start with. Probably some nano machine. We’ll give them the simple job of “find and remove all micro plastics from air/soil/water” while we continue to use plastic. And eventually the little AI will come to the inevitable conclusion that the only way to achieve this goal is remove the cause of micro plastics aka humans.
And if you haven’t played Universal Paperclips you should. Also read “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison. Both work off the same concept as above and is the most common argument against the use of AI. Or at least making AI that can learn.
AI that can continuously learn without limits would be the most dumb racist robot in existence. We’ve already seen it, and we know it should be controlled by humans.
Also read “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison
One of the most deeply disturbing and fascinating things I’ve ever read. Something about it just stuck with me and I think about it randomly, but I can’t reread it.
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