New study: Microplastics damage human cells

A recent study found, through laboratory experiments, that microplastics that leak into the human body in the amounts currently known, cause severe damage to human cells.

In a report published by the British newspaper "The Guardian", author Damian Carrenton says that these damages include - according to the study - cell death and allergic reactions, but the size of the effect is uncertain because it is not known how long the plastics stay in the body before it is eliminated. Swiss scientists succeed in inventing a revolutionary method for recycling plastic.

Microplastic particles

The researchers analyzed 17 previous studies looking at the effects of microplastics on human cells, highlighting the amount of plastics that can damage cells through contaminated drinking water, seafood and table salt.

Scientists discovered that the levels of microplastics that leak into the body through normal amounts of food, cause cell death and allergies.

" In many cases, these adverse effects on cells lead to other health effects," said Evangelos Danopoulos, of Hull York Medical School in the UK who led the study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. .At the moment, we should be concerned that we do not have an effective way to protect ourselves.”

Danopoulos added that future studies could address identifying the most polluted foods in order to avoid them, but the final solution - according to him - is to completely get rid of plastic waste.

Danopoulos emphasized that there is good reason for the increasing research on the health impact of microplastics, which is that we are exposed to them daily through food and air, and "we don't really know how our bodies react to them."

Future studies

The next step for researchers, Danopoulos said, is to study the harm that microplastics do to animals in the lab because experiments in humans would be unethical.

And in March, a study showed that tiny plastic particles in the lungs of pregnant mice were transferred to the hearts, brains and organs of fetuses.

And research last October showed that children who drink milk from plastic bottles ingest millions of plastic particles every day.