Meanwhile, new research continues to expose plastic’s quiet presence in our food, tap water and the air we breathe.<\/p>\n
A study published last month found higher-than-expected levels of inhalable plastic particles<\/a> in a handful of apartments and cars in France.<\/p>\n Recent Australian research found even compost contained teeny plastic fragments<\/a>, which may eventually make their way into agricultural soils and food crops.<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n These are a couple of the latest studies into microplastics: fragments or fibres of plastic between a micron (one millionth of a metre) up to 5 millimetres in size.<\/p>\n Microplastics can be created as a result of larger pieces of plastic shedding or breaking apart, or be added to products, such as plastic powders added to some cosmetics.<\/p>\n Along with microplastics, there are also nanoplastics.<\/p>\n These are plastic particles less than a micron wide. For context, a human hair is about 50 microns in diameter.<\/p>\n Being so tiny, nanoplastics might more easily infiltrate human cells and tissues such as our blood, “so they’re the ones scientists are interested in”, University of Queensland microplastics researcher Cassandra Rauert said.<\/p>\n So, considering micro- and nanoplastics are everywhere, from the summit of Everest<\/a> to the deepest ocean<\/a>, how can we minimise our exposure without living in a cave?<\/p>\n Do microplastics harm you?<\/p>\n The short answer is: we don’t yet know.<\/p>\n Part of that stems from the fact that we don’t know a whole lot about microplastics in general, such as where they come from, how many are in our environment, how they might get into our body, what they do once they’re in there, and how much we excrete<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately, microplastics is a very new field of research,” Dr Rauert said.<\/p>\n Compared to other everyday pollutants such as pesticides, scientists don’t have a good handle on the potential effects of microplastic or nanoplastic exposure.<\/p>\n And current techniques to identify micro- and nanoplastics in various organs “are not perfect”.<\/p>\n “There are a lot of studies reporting plastics in different parts of the human body, but there are a lot of limitations and challenges with those studies,” Dr Rauert said.<\/p>\n “We really don’t have good data showing that plastics are ending up in our brains or our liver or our placenta and things like that.<\/p>\n “There’s a lot of reactive media to those studies and it’s causing a lot of concern, which is very understandable, but \u2026 we really don’t have a good grip on if plastics are actually getting into our bodies yet.”<\/p>\n So what do we know? More research needs to be done, but it seems that micro- and nanoplastics can generate inflammation, Dr Rauert said.<\/p>\n Laundry is a top source of microplastic pollution<\/a><\/p>\n A single wash load can release\u00a0several million plastic microfibres, but you can decrease this by changing your washing technique.<\/p>\n It’s not just the physical presence of plastic particles in the body that may affect our health \u2014 it’s also the chemicals they bring with them, she added: “You’re getting a double hit when you’re exposed to these things.”<\/p>\n Such chemicals can be picked up by plastic particles from the environment, or are additives used during manufacturing that make the plastic more malleable, for instance.<\/p>\n These chemicals can disrupt hormones, and “there’s evidence coming out now that they’re linked to type 2 diabetes”, Dr Rauert said.<\/p>\n “It’s these chemicals that we \u2026 are more concerned about exposure to [than the plastic itself].”<\/p>\n How to reduce microplastics in food<\/p>\n Despite not yet having definitive evidence that microplastics cause harm to our health, researchers suggest avoiding them as much as possible.<\/p>\n That can be hard, considering just how much plastic is all around us all the time.<\/p>\n Soft plastics recycling trials are restarting at major supermarkets. (Unsplash: Towfiqu barbhuiya)<\/p>\n When it comes to food, there is some good news: there’s probably less plastic in what we eat than originally feared.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n