Microplastics are harming our health. Here’s how to reduce your risk
For all the damage that microplastics are doing to the planet, it may be that only an impending threat to the human body will direct the kind of attention to the issue that it has long deserved. That moment, researchers say, is here. Several recent studies into microplastics, the voluminous and tiny (think 5mm or smaller) bits of material that can take hundreds of years to degrade, suggest not only that they are everywhere, but that they’re making their way into our bloodstreams–with potentially hazardous results. The research isn’t nearly complete, and the science is evolving. … The threat of microplastics to some of our body functions is real, and it is growing. … Plastic-based products and their detritus are everywhere on Earth. Microplastics are in the food we eat, even raw fruits and vegetables, and have been found in both tap and bottled water.