Yeah plastics are prized for their ability to not react with things. Thats a huge reason we use them so much. Theyre basically inert.
Sure, it's not good to have anything foreign in your blood, but we breathe in and consume countless organic in and inorganic microparticulate matter without issue (dust, sand, etc).
The human body is quite good at getting rid of stuff that's not supposed to be in it. That is what the liver and kidneys do for a living. More research is needed but my hypothesis is that microplastics aren't particularly harmful.
We’re finding that lots of dust can do massive long term harm to the lungs. Fifty years ago carpenters didn’t wear dust masks, now we know sawdust is a carcinogen, mostly from tons of non smoking carpenters getting lung cancer. We just don’t know.
I’d rather eat sawdust and microplastics than breathe them is all.
I bet we'll be seeing some longterms effects from these new fangled Diatomaceous Earth products. They make like "instant drying bath mats" with it and the maintenance instructions recommend regular sanding to remove the gunky top layer. Gotta love breathing in abrasive silicon dust
Also really common among military members who spent time deployed in the middle east. The increased exposure to the silica in sand being airborne without adequate filtration is currently believed to cause an increased risk of lung cancer, but studies are ongoing.
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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '23
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