How worried should you be about the health effects of microplastics?
How worried should you be about the health effects of microplastics?


Animal studies indicate that microplastics may harm reproduction, particularly sperm quality. They can also affect lung and gut functioning and may increase the risk for lung and colon cancer, said Dr. [Tracey] Woodruff, who conducted a review of the research.
Jacques Robert, a professor of microbiology and immunology, and of environmental medicine, at the University of Rochester, said his own research on tadpoles fed microplastics has found that about 60 to 70 percent of the plastic was excreted. (That research has not yet been published.) Other studies have suggested that the plastic not excreted in waste appears to pass out of the gut and into the blood[.]
…
[T]here is early research in humans showing links between microplastics and preterm births, inflammation and cardiovascular disease.
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