Plain old water could be responsible for making plastics harmful to people, according to a new study that portends significant consequences for human health.<\/p>\n
The study, published Thursday in the prominent scientific journal Nature<\/a>, found chemical reactions between water and six types of fossil fuel-based plastic created particles that damaged red blood cells and proteins in laboratory tests.<\/p>\n As plastic in the body breaks down into smaller and smaller bits \u2014 known as microplastics<\/a> and nanoplastics \u2014 the potential danger increases, said Wei Min, a Columbia University chemist who co-authored the study.<\/p>\n \u201cIs this phenomenon 5% responsible or 90% responsible for the health effects we are seeing, I can\u2019t answer,\u201d Min said during an interview. \u201cBut I would be surprised if it doesn\u2019t play any role.\u201d<\/p>\n Min\u2019s study comes amid increasing concerns about plastic pollution in the Great Lakes, the source of drinking water for 40 million people<\/a> in the United States and Canada, including nearly 7 million in the Chicago area.<\/p>\n The Chicago Tribune is documenting the hazards in \u201cGreat Waste in the Great Lakes<\/a>,\u201d a series about plastic pollution threatening the health and environment of Americans and Canadians who depend on the world\u2019s largest source of fresh surface water.<\/p>\n Interactions between water and plastic could help explain why other studies have shown microplastics trigger inflammation<\/a>, which contributes to a variety of diseases that together account for more than half of all deaths globally.<\/p>\n For now it\u2019s impossible to prevent these reactions within the body. Human blood is about 50% water and cells are up to 80% water, Min noted.<\/p>\n \u201cThis challenges the reigning theory that plastic is inert (meaning it doesn\u2019t prompt chemical or biological reactions),\u201d said Sherri \u201cSam\u201d Mason, a chemist at Gannon University<\/a> in Erie, Pennsylvania, who studies plastic pollution in freshwater.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it highlights the need for truly biodegradable plastic, rather than what industry increasingly puts out into the marketplace,\u201d said Mason, who wasn\u2019t involved in the new study but was one of the first researchers to find microplastics<\/a> throughout the Great Lakes.<\/p>\n Scientists also are finding microplastics in nearly every part of the human body<\/a> \u2014 the brain, the heart, ovaries and testicles. The mostly invisible bits course through blood and pass from mother to child through the placenta<\/a> and breast milk<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rapidly emerging research suggests the ingestion and inhalation of microplastics, nearly all of which are made from climate-changing fossil fuels<\/a>, contribute to or outright trigger heart disease<\/a>, dementia<\/a>, Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a>, impaired fertility<\/a> and premature births<\/a>, among other health problems.<\/p>\n Min and 11 colleagues, including researchers from the University of California Berkeley and Rutgers University, found water molecules behave differently when coming into contact with microplastics. Water essentially acts as a catalyst that spontaneously creates particles known as hydroxyl radicals, unstable molecules linked to aging and disease.<\/p>\n Two common types of plastic \u2014 polyethylene and polypropylene, used widely to make food containers, packaging, milk jugs and bottle caps \u2014 produced the most hydroxyl radicals detected by the researchers. The finding suggests certain plastics could be reformulated or phased out of consumer products, Min said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur bodies have natural defense mechanisms,\u201d said Phoebe Stapleton, a Rutgers professor<\/a> of pharmacology and toxicology who co-authored the study. \u201cBut depending on other exposures we\u2019ve had, our genetics and lifestyle choices, all of these (hydroxyl radicals) could build up to a point where we can\u2019t handle them anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 8 billion tons<\/a> of plastic already pollute the Earth. Manufacturers, including the world\u2019s largest oil companies, are planning to triple production<\/a> by 2060.<\/p>\n