Babies are Made of Microplastics

[Gatorubet 30,238]

[wild_turkey 3,159]

Breaking Alabama Supreme Court ruling: If human fetuses have microplastics, and fetuses are people, then microplastics are people too.
 

Life begins at polymerization.

[Gatorubet 30,238]

2 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

Life begins at polymerization.

We are all dead dinosaurs, but some of us don’t know it. 

[B00M 6,416]

https://www.wecb.fm/a-gigantic-ocean-discovered-700km-beneath-the-earths-surface/
 

can’t wait until we find there’s plastic in it

[Neonmoon 38,129]

2 minutes ago, B00M said:

https://www.wecb.fm/a-gigantic-ocean-discovered-700km-beneath-the-earths-surface/
 

can’t wait until we find there’s plastic in it

That’s where Old Gregg lives 

[Gatorubet 30,238]

54 minutes ago, B00M said:

https://www.wecb.fm/a-gigantic-ocean-discovered-700km-beneath-the-earths-surface/
 

can’t wait until we find there’s plastic in it

 Arne Saknussemm should know…

[Schulz2.0 28,951]

59 minutes ago, B00M said:

https://www.wecb.fm/a-gigantic-ocean-discovered-700km-beneath-the-earths-surface/
 

can’t wait until we find there’s plastic in it

Just Godzilla and King Kong.

[Biff Tannen 45,685]

6 hours ago, B00M said:

https://www.wecb.fm/a-gigantic-ocean-discovered-700km-beneath-the-earths-surface/
 

can’t wait until we find there’s plastic in it

Seems legit

[crash_davis 23,113]

More good news. 

 

https://hsc.unm.edu/news/2024/04/microplastics-in-organs.html

Microplastics Make Their Way from the Gut to Other Organs, UNM Researchers Find

In a recent paper published in the journal  Environmental Health Perspectives, University of New Mexico researchers found that those tiny particles – microplastics – are having a significant impact on our digestive pathways, making their way from the gut and into the tissues of the kidney, liver and brain.

“Over the past few decades, microplastics have been found in the ocean, in animals and plants, in tap water and bottled water,” Castillo, says. “They appear to be everywhere.”

Scientists estimate that people ingest 5 grams of microplastic particles each week on average – equivalent to the weight of a credit card.

 

Over a four-week period, Castillo, postdoctoral fellow Marcus Garcia, PharmD, and other UNM researchers exposed mice to microplastics in their drinking water. The amount was equivalent to the quantity of microplastics humans are believed to ingest each week.

Microplastics had migrated out of the gut into the tissues of the liver, kidney and even the brain, the team found. The study also showed the microplastics changed metabolic pathways in the affected tissues.

“We could detect microplastics in certain tissues after the exposure,” Castillo says. “That tells us it can cross the intestinal barrier and infiltrate into other tissues.”

Castillo says he’s also concerned about the accumulation of the plastic particles in the human body. “These mice were exposed for four weeks,” he says. “Now, think about how that equates to humans, if we're exposed from birth to old age.”

 

He has previously found that microplastics are also impacting macrophages – the immune cells that work to protect the body from foreign particles.

In a paper published in the journal Cell Biology & Toxicology in 2021, Castillo and other UNM researchers found that when macrophages encountered and ingested microplastics, their function was altered and they released inflammatory molecules.

“It is changing the metabolism of the cells, which can alter inflammatory responses,” Castillo says. “During intestinal inflammation – states of chronic illness such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, which are both forms of inflammatory bowel disease – these macrophages become more inflammatory and they’re more abundant in the gut.”

[Captainant 27,669]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/20/microplastics-human-testicles-study-sperm-counts

Balls are made out of microplastics

[freyguy 4,272]

[Hornius Emeritus 12,462]

Well, okay ... microplastics are responsible for decreasing sperm counts, migrating out of the gut into the tissues of the liver, kidney and even the brain, gunking up the oceans, killing mass quantities of fish etc ... but they are just so damn convenient.

[YGIFS 19,450]

1 hour ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Well, okay ... microplastics are responsible for decreasing sperm counts, migrating out of the gut into the tissues of the liver, kidney and even the brain, gunking up the oceans, killing mass quantities of fish etc ... but they are just so damn convenient.

so hear me out, we get off oil-based plastic testicles and use solar.  Like Tucker said, we can tan our testicles using the sun instead of polypropylene.  It's a win-win.  

[Captainant 27,669]

2 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Well, okay ... microplastics are responsible for decreasing sperm counts, migrating out of the gut into the tissues of the liver, kidney and even the brain, gunking up the oceans, killing mass quantities of fish etc ... but they are just so damn convenient.

[Laughs in Point Comfort Formosa plant nodules in Matagorda Bay]

[bolverk 29,672]

Could we please redirect the 45% of corn production we waste on ethanol toward making bioplastics instead? Or perhaps ban wasteful plastic bags used at grocery stores/Walmart? Maybe fucking charge for them? Do something.

Holy shit.

[troph 24,798]

14 hours ago, bolverk said:

Could we please redirect the 45% of corn production we waste on ethanol toward making bioplastics instead? Or perhaps ban wasteful plastic bags used at grocery stores/Walmart? Maybe fucking charge for them? Do something.

Holy shit.

It’s annoying as anything can be we have the technology to eliminate most petroleum plastics with little inconvenience, but nah. Won’t do it, can’t do it, wouldn’t be prudent.

[Captainant 27,669]

15 minutes ago, troph said:

It’s annoying as anything can be we have the technology to eliminate most petroleum plastics with little inconvenience, but nah. Won’t do it, can’t do it, wouldn’t be prudent.

We won't do it because it's cheaper to use petroleum plastics. It's purely driven by need for shareholder value and cost savings. 

[Bigbend1812 12,915]

[Gatorubet 30,238]

On 2/28/2024 at 7:58 AM, Fastbreak said:

 

Sorry, microplastics aren’t recyclable…

 

“….microplastics!”

[Schulz2.0 28,951]

2 hours ago, Captainant said:

We won't do it because it's cheaper to use petroleum plastics. It's purely driven by need for shareholder value and cost savings. 

Plastics are a huge source of revenue for fossil fuel producers. They're never giving that up willingly.

[troph 24,798]

[crash_davis 23,113]

I guess this shouldn't surprise anyone. Yay, our brains may be one of the most polluted of the organs.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/21/microplastics-brain-pollution-health

In one of the latest studies to emerge – a pre-print paper still undergoing peer review that is posted online by the National Institutes of Health – researchers found a particularly concerning accumulation of microplastics in brain samples.

An examination of the livers, kidneys and brains of autopsied bodies found that all contained microplastics, but the 91 brain samples contained on average about 10 to 20 times more than the other organs. The results came as a shock, according to the study’s lead author Matthew Campen, a toxicologist and professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico.

The researchers found that 24 of the brain samples, which were collected in early 2024, measured on average about 0.5% plastic by weight.

“It’s pretty alarming,” Campen said. “There’s much more plastic in our brains than I ever would have imagined or been comfortable with.”

The study describes the brain as “one of the most plastic-polluted tissues yet sampled”.

[crash_davis 23,113]

I smell plastic.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/microplastics-brain-new-research-finds-plastics-olfactory-bulb-rcna171200

Microplastics can get into brain tissue, study shows

The tiny scraps of plastic were found in the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain responsible for processing smell.

Scientists in Brazil found microplastics in the brain tissue of cadavers, according to a new study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Mounting research over the last few years has found microplastics in nearly every organ in the body, as well as in the bloodstream and in plaque that clogs arteries. Whether these ubiquitous pollutants can reach the human brain has been a primary concern for scientists.

The latest research looked at a part of the brain called the olfactory bulb, which processes information about smell. Humans have two olfactory bulbs, one above each nasal cavity. Connecting the olfactory bulb and the nasal cavity is the olfactory nerve.

Some researchers worry the olfactory pathway may also be an entry point for microplastics getting into the brain, beyond the olfactory bulb.

“Previous studies in humans and animals have shown that air pollution reaches the brain, and that particles have been found in the olfactory bulb, which is why we think the olfactory bulb is probably one of the first points for microplastics to reach the brain,” said lead study author Dr. Thais Mauad, an associate professor of pathology at the University of São Paulo Medical School in Brazil.

Mauad and her team took samples of olfactory bulb tissue from 15 cadavers of people who died between the ages of 33 and 100. Samples from eight of the cadavers contained microplastics — tiny bits of plastic that ranged from 5.5 micrometers to 26.4 micrometers in size.

In total, the researchers found 16 plastic fibers and particles in the tissues. The smallest were slimmer than the diameter of a human red blood cell, which measures about 8 micrometers. The most common type of plastic they found was polypropylene, followed by polyamide, nylon and polyethylene vinyl acetate.

“Propylene is everywhere, in furniture, rugs, clothes,” Mauad said. “We know the place we are most exposed to particles is indoors, because all of our homes are full of plastic.”

Matthew Campen, a toxicologist at the University of New Mexico who has studied microplastics in the brain, said the presence of microplastics in the olfactory bulb “is unique but not terribly surprising.”

“The nose is a major point of defense to keep particles and dust out of the lungs,” Campen wrote in an email. “So seeing some plastics in the olfactory system, especially given how they are being found everywhere else in the body, is completely expected.”