First, we found the huge floating island of plastic in the sea. Then, we found out that it had micronised and was now in our water supply. Now, we are slowly becoming living Barbie dolls as our bodies become filled with irremovable microplastics, and it’s especially worrisome for men.
At less than 5mm in length, microplastics are incredibly hard to see, and we consume more of them than you may think. They come from things like pallets, bottles, and other disposable plastics when they break down.
According to a study by the World Wildlife Fund, we consume about 5 grams of plastic a week. That’s enough to fill one of those soup spoons you get with pho, or the weight of a pottle cap. In a year, that equates to 250 grams, which looks like a heaped dinner plate of plastic.
The problem with this is far worse than it just being absolutely disgusting. We don’t pass the microplastic as you may think. Instead, they often accumulate in the body. This poses numerous health risks, unsurprisingly.
Worryingly, children are more likely to accumulate microplastics in their bodies. “Research suggests microplastics can enter the fetus via the placenta, and babies could also ingest the particles via breast milk,” a recent study found. “The use of plastic feeding bottles and teething toys adds to children’s microplastics exposure.”
The microplastics find their way into every nook and cranny of the body, too. The particles have been found everywhere, including the blood, placenta, liver, kidneys, brain, and reproductive organs. You’ve got plastic in your balls, boys.
We Are The Microplastics Test Group
The microplastics found in the body are a recent discovery, with research finding new tragic discoveries every day. It is currently irreversible, and for most of us, unavoidable. Microplastics are in almost all of our drinking water, in our food, and even in the air we breathe at this point.
Microplastics have been found in almost every part of the human body, so it was hardly surprising when they were found in every human testicle tested. Many of the results of the increasing amounts of plastic are unknown, but this in particular correlates with a lower sperm count.
On the whole, the effects are still unknown of microplastics in the body. But, doctors have warned that they found a substantially raised risk of stroke, heart attack, and earlier death in people whose blood vessels were contaminated with microscopic plastics.
My grandfather was in the generation that suffered from mining-induced black lung. My father was the generation of asbestos. I’ve just got plastic balls.