Human-made plastic materials have become so essential that it can be hard to grasp that they barely existed a century ago. At my desk, I’m typing on a plastic keyboard, scrolling a plastic mouse, picking up a plastic pen, tapping on a plastic calculator. Day after day, more plastic enters my life, whether it’s a shampoo bottle, a plastic clamshell of grapes or new running shoes.
The invention of synthetic plastics in the early 1900s was a triumph of innovation, with chemists realizing they could orchestrate molecular structures to create materials that are lighter, stronger, brighter, cheaper, more flexible and more durable.
During World War II, nylon and other plastics became essential to the war effort. When the war ended, the nascent plastics industry focused on making products for everyday life. That’s a history we explored last year as part of our Century of Science project (SN: 1/29/22, p. 16). You can read more on the rise of plastics and other innovations at Century of Science.
But the ubiquity of plastic has become a curse, with discarded objects clogging waterways and landfills. And when plastic does finally fall apart, minute particles disperse in the environment. We’ve known for years that microplastics have permeated the oceans (SN: 2/20/16, p. 20). In this issue, we report on research confirming that microplastics are also accumulating in our bodies. Plastic particles have been found in human blood, in body tissues and in breast milk.
Talk about environmental contamination hitting close to home. As independent journalist Anne Pinto-Rodrigues reports, microplastics probably enter the human body through the food we eat, the water we drink and even the air we breathe. Though consuming microplastics along with lunch is creepy enough, the notion that we might be inhaling invisible bits with each breath feels much more disturbing.
Researchers have only recently begun quantifying the abundance of microplastics in the…
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