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Lung cancer patients have been found to have greater amounts of microplastics in their lungs than people without the disease, scientists have discovered.
50 patients with lung cancer in Greece had 20 percent more microplastics in lung fluid samples, a new study from the European Respiratory Society found.
Microplastics – miniscule particles that break off when larger pieces of plastic degrade – have been found in the ocean, air and inside animal and human bodies. They have even been found in the placenta.
Scientists and environmentalists have long warned that plastic waste is choking the planet. Plastic pollution – which also degrades water quality and poisons marine life – is expected to nearly triple by 2060, according to the United Nations.
The new study adds to evidence that microplastics are entering our bodies via the air we breathe.
Microplastics could contribute to inflammation or other biological processes linked to cancer, scientists fear (AFP/Getty)
“Our results suggest that inhaled microplastics can be found in the human lung more frequently than many people may realize,” respiratory physician Dr. Ilias Dimeas, from University College Dublin School of Medicine, said in a statement.
“This adds to the growing evidence that reducing environmental plastic pollution may have benefits that extend beyond ecosystems and into human health.”
Lung cancer is the leading cancer globally, accounting for 20 percent of deaths. Nearly 125,000 lung cancer deaths are expected in the U.S. this year, the American Cancer Society says.
Dimeas said that microplastics could contribute to inflammation or other biological processes linked to cancer. But there’s also the possibility that lungs suffering from disease retain microplastic particles differently than healthy lungs, she added.
Other studies from the last couple of years have found ties to lung and colon cancers and discovered microplastics in prostate cancer tumors.
Lung cancer tumors have been found to contain more microplastics than healthy tissue, Keshav Raj Paudel, a senior researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, said in February.
There are microplastics pretty much everywhere. The plastic particles have been found in cancer tumors before (AFP/Getty)
Even so, the American Cancer Society says there is not enough evidence to know if microplastics cause cancer and how.
“Ultimately, we need more research and more data to learn how microplastics affect human health, including their role in cancer,” Dr. Thejus Jayakrishnan, a gastrointestinal cancer physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, told the American Cancer Society in December.
Establishing a clear link between microplastics and lung cancer would help better treat and prevent the disease. While smoking remains the biggest cause of lung cancer, U.S. smoking rates hit an all-time low this year.