From silver spoons to Microplastics: alarming new find
The onset of 2021 started with the news of a startling discovery when scientists found microplastics in the wombs of pregnant women for the first time ever. A study carried out in Rome found microplastic particles in several placentas, though the babies were born healthy, researchers are alarmed and have called it a matter of great apprehension.
This Italian research was done on six pregnant women who volunteered to be a part of this study. Researchers found that all the placentas had remnants of microplastics of varying colors which were probably breathed in by the mothers and came from cosmetics, paints, packaging and other products. Though the babies were born healthy, scientists predict that having such impurities in the placenta will have long term effects on the development of children which will come to surface as time goes on.
The infiltration of a foreign particle in the womb may mean that impurities might also have entered the bloodstreams of the babies, but more research is needed on this.
What are microplastics and why are they harmful?
Microplastics are plastic fragments measuring less than 5mm and are a result of our mass plastic consumption. These particles though very small, are causing great devastation to our environment and wildlife, and it seems like humans are next on the list. These particles can be found in all corners of the world, even in the depths of the ocean. Sea life is one to have been impacted the most by microplastics, and in turn those animals which consume fishes have also been effected. Microplastics are not digestible, hence, the animal’s stomachs fill up with plastic particles; killing them via starvation.
However, the question we have to now ask is, how are microplastics entering the human body? As the research suggest, these microplastics enter our body via breathing them in, but much like the animals, when we consume sea food and meat, there are chances we are also consuming microplastics via ingestion. At present, the full effects of the problem are not known but we do know that they cause immune system damages and liver damage consequentially leading to birth defects and cancer. We will have to wait and see what affect it will have on human life.
Though, the presence of microplastic in the womb is of great concern and alarm, researchers have concluded that not all women have microplastics in their wombs which may be due to factors such as location and lifestyle. However, it does force us to contemplate where we are going as a race and the difficult changes we need to make. The conversation about the harmful impacts of plastics has already started and many cities across the world have implemented bans on plastic, but that is not enough. We need to cut down on single use plastic and adopt more sustainable methods, so that the children born in the coming years, are born unpolluted.