Are humans becoming more like Barbie and Ken dolls? With an ever-growing plastic content and increasing inability to replicate, the similarities are worrying. Let me explain.
Microplastics – small plastic particles less than 5 millimetres size – are increasingly being recognized as a hazardous and pervasive environmental pollutant. These tiny particles enter the human body through ingestion, inhalation, and, to a lesser extent, dermal absorption. We are becoming more plastic by the day.
Most of the plastic we accumulate is through the consumption of contaminated food and water. Microplastics have been detected in a wide range of food products, including seafood, salt, honey, sugar, and even drinking water, both bottled and tap. Marine organisms such as fish and shellfish often ingest microplastics, which then accumulate in their tissues, and, in turn, ours as we consume them. Plastic containers for food storage and packaging further contribute to this contamination.
Microplastics are also present in the air, particularly in indoor environments where synthetic fibres from clothing, upholstery, and other household items shed particles into the air we breathe. Outdoor air in urban areas is similarly contaminated by sources such as car tyre wear, construction activities, and degradation of plastic litter. These airborne particles enter us through our lungs, potentially causing a range of adverse effects.
Many personal care products such as exfoliating scrubs, soaps, and cosmetics also contain microplastics. Our skin barrier limits the penetration, but smaller particles are easily absorbed. These particles have the potential to leach toxic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the human body with a host of yet un-quantified potential side effects.
A recent study of human testicles, which were frozen post medical investigations for seven years, found that they contained up to 128 mg of plastic per gramme and as a result would produce fewer sperm and reduce their normal function, including hormone production.
This finding may indicate the beginnings of a wider understanding of the possible causes of the well-documented reduction in human fertility, already leading to widely experienced falling birth rates in many parts of the world.
We urgently need to reduce plastic pollution, improve waste management, and develop alternatives to conventional plastics. Central to this must be building a circular economy business to recycle plastics from clothing to consumer and industrial goods – mitigating human exposure to microplastics. The biggest danger we face is assuming someone else is addressing the problem when they are not.
Together, let’s get busy repairing the future.
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