In the basement laboratory at the University of New Mexico, Marcus Garcia shook a barrel full of plastic waste. He chose a cup and group with a bottle, a lump of fishing nets, a toothbrush, a pokemon character.
“yes!” He shouted with an abandoned pipette tip. “I found it.”
Dr. Garcia, a post doctor of pharmaceutical science, found a pipette tip with colleagues in Hawaii last summer. It was likely to have been decomposed for many years by the sun, ozone and the sea, but it was not miraculously damaged. He thought he was, how deeply he was. It was the object used by him and thousands of other scientists every day. And there, they were cleaning and collecting hundreds of pounds on the beach with hundreds of pounds of plastic waste.
Dr. Garcia is part of the main lab run by toxic scholar Matthew Campen, which is studying how small particles known as microplastics are accumulated in our bodies. Researcher The most recent paperIn the scientific world published in February in natural medicine, we created a series of amazing headlines and buzzes. In 2024, the human brain sample has been found that there are almost 50 % more microplastics than brain samples since 2016.
Dr. Campen said, “This object is increasing exponentially in our world. When we build up in the environment, we are accumulating in us.
Some of the researchers’ discoveries also caused extensive concerns. In this study, the brains of people with dementia have much more micro hydrogen than the brains of those without them. In last year’s paper, researchers showed that micro genome exists in humans. testicle and placenta. Other scientists are also blood, semen, breast milk and even The first stool of the baby.
In February, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital Dr. Campen’s Lab has been released. Preliminary research The placenta of the premature baby shows that even though the particles have less time to accumulate, they contain more microplastics than the baby’s microplastics delivered in full terms.
But the researchers still didn’t understand all the places they found and all concerns about health risks. The first to be a toxic scholar is that “doses make poison.” Substances, even water can be toxic with sufficient capacity. But Dr. Campen and Dr. Garcia had no idea what amount of microplastics were needed to begin to cause health problems. And there was too many plastic in our world, and did our food, clothes, air, or other sources have the greatest threat?
To answer this question, they headed to the body.
Plastic hunting
While descending the hall from Dr. Garcia’s search, the cabinets of the team’s main laboratory have samples of the brain, liver, kidneys, arteries and gender organs.
Dr. Garcia opened a jar called “DB” for “Dementia Brains”. I smelled a familiar smell for the person who spent time in the anatomy laboratory: Formaldehyde. Using the tweezers, he pulled a piece of brain tissue and put it on a glass petri plate. It was similar to tofu pieces, with thick gray substances surrounding a narrow white band.
In the papers, researchers reported that the intermediate concentration of microplastics was almost 5,000 micrographs per gram in the 24 human brain since 2024, but the estimates have a significant amount of uncertainty due to the method used to calculate them. Dr. Campen is a plastic of about 7 grams per brain as it consists of a disposable spoon. The brains of dementia patients were more brain, but researchers may be because the brain has more porous blood brain barriers and can clear the toxins.
It is not yet clear how this amount of plastic affects human health, but it is enough to cause alarms. Dr. Campen said, “I don’t think I talked to a person who talks with a fantastic person.
His group currently studies the tissue in the cross -section of a single brain to find out whether it has a higher microplastic concentration in certain areas and whether it is related to problems such as Parkinson’s or memory loss. Ideally, he wants to study the brain before the 1970s or 1960s when plastic became a ubiquitous. “You can imagine a classic old museum with a brain that floats in the jar,” he said. “I really need one of them.”
The experiment costs a lot and takes a lot of time. Brain samples do not come out easily. The machine that analyzes plastic is about $ 150,000 per pop. (Next to the oldest, the research assistant wrote a candle with the picture of Jesus and hoped to keep the machine smoothly, saying, “I believe you.” Of course, they do not actually reveal it.)
But through this study, Dr. Campen allows you to draw any conclusions without anyone else. They made our bodies believe that the microplastics of our bodies are much smaller than other scientists described. This will explain how they can live through the barriers of our bodies. He confirmed the suspicion of using a high resolution microscope. 400 times less than the width of the hair -And too thin they were translucent. In the initial study, the microscope, which can be seen up to 25 times the size, was greatly used.
To Dr. Campen, documenting particles can increase the understanding of how many plastic will, how to arrive, where to go, where to go, and what can be damaged.
It goes back to decades
Researchers can’t clearly say how this plastic enters our body or where it comes from, but there are clues. They know that plastic wastes end in soil, water, air, and even rain, and Christite Tyler, a professor of environmental science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, studies the microplastics of the aquatic ecosystem. It can be integrated into plants and can be concentrated when you go up the food chain. Plastics are in clothes, rugs, sofas and food storage containers. “It’s actually everywhere.” Tyler said.
The characteristics of the team’s team found in the human organization were produced mainly a few years ago and suggested that it originated from weathered waste over time. Researchers discovered a significant amount of polyethylene, such as the dominant plastic type produced in the 1960s, but there are few plastics used in water bottles that took off in the 1990s.
Since plastic production is doubled every 10 to 15 years, too many plastics are already being used, even if we do not make it today, and more and more plastic waste will accumulate in our bodies for decades.
Dr. CAMPEN is the main way for this plastic to enter our body is when we eat it shortly after we have been abandoned and collapsed. He does not worry about so -called fresh plastics as we use cutting boards and water bottles. Because the particles are much larger and newer than what he measured. And according to a study, the body suggests Remove the larger microplastics.
Dr. Campen admits that his view of fresh plastics is “non -traditional,” and other scientists are worth taking action to reduce exposure. Tracey Woodruff, a reproductive health and environmental program at the University of California, San Francisco, is a microplastics that can invade from water bottles, microwave food containers and synthetic clothing. Studies show that these particles can be harmful.
Dr. Woodruff said, “Perhaps it may come from the decomposed micro -usual, but it does not mean that it is not exposed from other fresh microplastics, and Dr. CAMPEN can affect the rest of the body after the greater particles still affect the intestines.
Scientists also believe that certain chemicals of plastics, such as phthalates, bisphenols and fireworks, can harm human health. Dr. Woodruff said, “For years of research on plastic.” But we still know that I don’t want to be exposed to plastic anymore.
Dr. Tyler said the New Mexican University Research Institute performed the best possible work in such early fields. “Matt’s group is in very cutting edge,” she said.
But like early science, there are warnings. First of all, this small particles are very difficult to measure. And no one has yet repeated research to see if the result is maintained. The biggest problem is whether everything that measures is actually plastic or some lipids. It looks chemically similar, but can occur naturally in the body.
Dr. Woodruff said, “The estimate of how much the brain seems to be high,” said Dr. Woodruff. But even if they are, they will not deny the result of seeing more plastic over time. In fact, it is very consistent with what we know about plastic production.
Handling for health risks
Dr. Campen and Dr. Garcia have a question that they think they have begun to answer with confidence. That’s what they started: how many plastic in our bodies?
Now they are ready to explore the possible relevance between specific doses such as heart disease, reproductive and multiple sclerosis and human health results.
And they are starting experiments in animals to understand which doses can be harmful.
Teya Garland, a pharmacy student, started the process in the laboratory. Wearing a mask to avoid particle suction, she inserts a bit of color chalk into a terrible machine when she frozes and grabs the plastic. After all, researchers will supply them to mice and study how other levels and types affect brain and actions.
These sculptures came from the beach in Hawaii, where Dr. Garcia and others collected 1,800 pounds of plastic debris and 500 pounds. Volunteers are clear about the amount every few weeks.
Dr. Garcia said, “It’s one thing to see a picture.” “To see it when we are there, it opens your eyes,” he added. All the use that can be imagined in plastics such as takeout containers, bleaching, tobacco, plastic bags and laboratory equipment seemed to be expressed in the sea that extends beyond the beach and the sea. And every day, it collapses and gets smaller.
One day, some of them can end in us.
Audio production Patricia Sulbaran.
