TORONTO -- While most people have heard of microplastics and how they鈥檙e polluting the environment, a long-time environmentalist wants them to also know that these tiny bits of plastics are most likely entering their bodies too after he conducted an unusual experiment on himself.
Rick Smith, the executive director of the Broadbent Institute and co-author of 鈥淪low Death by Rubber Duck,鈥� said he was interested in finding out if microplastics were seeping into human bodies from the products we use, the clothing we wear, and the food we consume.
There have been numerous studies showing evidence of microplastics winding up in the environment, particularly in oceans.
The small plastics fragments can enter the environment in numerous ways, including sloughing off of vehicles鈥� tires and washing into streams. The fragments also detach from clothing with plastics in the fabric, such as polyester and nylon, during the machine-washing cycle. And then there鈥檚 the eventual breakdown of single-use plastics, such as straws, that are thrown out.
Smith said that while the discovery of microplastics in the environment is being heavily studied, he鈥檚 only aware of out of Europe and Asia that has examined the existence of microplastics in humans.
In an effort to learn more about this possibility, Smith teamed up with the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York to find evidence of microplastics in humans using his own body as the test subject.
鈥淭he study that I've done is the first of its kind. So for good or ill, I鈥檓 the first person who can say that, yes, here in North America, North Americans have these microplastic fibres and fragments in our bodies,鈥� he told 麻豆影视.
Over the course of six days in January, Smith sent daily samples of his stool to researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology to test for microplastics.
For the first two days of the experiment, Smith lived and ate as he normally would. Over the next four days, however, he did things that he thought would increase his intake of microplastics.
Smith ate food that had been shrink-wrapped in plastic, he drank only bottled water, he heated his food in plastic containers in the microwave, and he prepared his coffee in a machine made with plastic parts.
The environmentalist also took it a step further and wore clothing laced with plastic, such as a fuzzy fleece he received for Christmas, over those four days.
Not only did the researchers find microplastics in his stool every day of the experiment, they also detected higher levels of fragments in the later days of the study when Smith was actively trying to expose himself to more plastic.
鈥淲e found substantially more microplastics in the samples and were able to identify them,鈥� said Nathan Eddingsaas, an associate professor in chemistry and materials Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
However, he noted that 鈥渁 lot more鈥� research needs to be done on the topic, including looking at exactly how microplastics affect human health.
While Eddingsaas said he wasn鈥檛 surprised by the results of the experiment, Smith was of a different opinion.
鈥淭hese results are shocking, they鈥檙e surprising,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he human health implications are staggering. If there鈥檚 microplastics in me, if my microplastic levels actually increase or decrease depending on how much plastic I鈥檓 using in my daily life, what it means is that we鈥檝e all got microplastics in us.鈥�
The plastic industry says research hasn鈥檛 shown significant human health impacts from microplastics.
Smith, on the other hand, said the doctors and scientists he spoke to about his results are increasingly concerned about the potential health consequences of microplastics in the body.
鈥淭hese tiny plastic particles are small enough that when we breathe them into our lungs, when we ingest them in our food and drink, they can actually pass through our gut lining into our bloodstream. They can be transported around our bodies to organs that clean our blood like our livers, they can get deposited in our brains,鈥� he said.
Kieran Cox, a marine biology PhD candidate and Hakai Scholar at the University of Victoria, said that while Smith鈥檚 experiment is valuable on an anecdotal level, more studies are needed to understand the true toll microplastics could have on human bodies.
鈥淭he health implications are going to be very difficult to untangle, and it's going to be a multi-phase collaborative effort, and it's actually going to extend probably multiple years to try to figure this out,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he short answer is we don't know. But the field is moving very quickly.鈥�
The research on this topic may still be in its early stages, but Smith said he鈥檚 not taking any chances with his or his family鈥檚 health. He said they already try to reduce their use of plastic in their daily lives as much as possible by eating food from glass or metal containers and never drinking out of plastic water bottles.
鈥淚 think what we can deduce from my experiment is that using less plastics in your daily life is going to result in less microplastics in your body,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 mean it seems common sense, but it's nice to have that confirmed.鈥�
