Study authors are worried about the rising amount of microplastics. (Representative pic)
Environmentalists have been warning about plastic pollution for decades. But still, plastic has permeated our lives and every corner of our planet as it is ubiquitous - from milk cartons to window frames we manufacture a myriad of plastic materials. And now, scientists at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences have used a new tool to measure how much of these microplastics are in human placentas. In the study, published in Toxicological Sciences, the team found microplastics in all 62 of the placenta samples tested, with concentrations ranging from 6.5 to 790 micrograms per gram of tissue.
Scientists said that even though these numbers seem small, the concern is that the volume of microplastics in the environment is increasing, and this could have health effects. The study's lead author, Matthew Campen, said he is worried about the rising amount of microplastics. "If we're seeing effects on placentas, then all mammalian life on this planet could be impacted. That's not good," he said.
In the study, the team analysed donated placenta tissue. In a process called saponification, they chemically treated the samples to "digest" the fat and proteins into a kind of soap. Then, they spun each sample in an ultracentrifuge, which left small nuggets of plastic at the bottom of a tube. The team then used a technique called pyrolysis. They put the plastic pellet in a metal cup and heated it to 600 degrees Celsius, then captured gas emissions as different types of plastic combusted at specific temperatures.
"The researchers found the most prevalent polymer in placental tissue was polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles," the study authors wrote. "It accounted for 54% of the total plastics. Polyvinyl chloride (better known as PVC) and nylon each represented about 10% of the total, with the remainder consisting of nine other polymers," they added.
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Mr Campen said that the growing concentration of microplastics in human tissue might explain the increase in some types of health problems, such as inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer in people under 50, as well as declining sperm counts. He also added that the concentration of microplastics in placentas is particularly troubling because the tissue has only been growing for eight months.
"It's only getting worse, and the trajectory is it will double every 10 to 15 years. So, even if we were to stop it today, in 2050 there will be three times as much plastic in the background as there is now. And we're not going to stop it today," Mr Campen said.