One thing you will find about articles and comments regarding this issue is that there is always a 'we don't know' aspect if you look past the fear inducing 'it could be doing this horrible thing' stances.
I try to stay up to date with scholarly research regarding microplastic dangers to humans, and so far there is no conclusive evidence that they do anything harmful to us.
Just know that you are exposed to many hundreds of actually harmful chemicals in your daily life -- but remember that it is the dose, not the presence of a toxin that causes harm. Even water will kill you if you drink too much of it.
Until there is a smoking gun regarding these particles and human health, it would do good to focus on things you can control that are known to be harmful, rather than something you can't that is only scary sounding.
That said, it is a good opportunity to use this to advocate for far less single-use plastics in society. We should not be using nearly as much plastic for nearly as many things as we do, and it needs to be drastically reduced.
> it would do good to focus on things you can control that are known to be harmful
Are you (or someone else) aware of any indices of how harmful various substances are and how pervasive they are? It'd be nice to know, for instance, how damaging one substance is versus another so that I can prioritize my concerns better.
- I imagine that the quantity that someone consumes or is exposed to plays a role. It'd be interesting to see an index of how easily the toxic threshold can generally be hit via conventional sources.
> It'd be nice to know, for instance, how damaging one substance is versus another so that I can prioritize my concerns better.
A list of harmful chemicals people could be exposed to in daily life shouldn't be difficult to compile if there isn't one already, but is relatively useless because as I noted exposure itself is not the problem in almost all cases.
However taking that list and trying to compare the harm on some sort quantitative level is going to be difficult.
I wouldn't worry about it -- I was speaking more about 'stay mindful of things around you that you can control, like wearing PPE when necessary or staying away from off-gassing plastics which have a characteristic smell' rather than 'make a list of everything you are exposed to and plan your life around it'.
I would strongly encourage you look into the research of Dr Shawna Swan. She's done several studies since the 1990's that have found and then later confirmed very alarming effects on testosterone and unborn children. And it's not just plastics causing this, it's pesticides and parabens too.
> Although limestone is still considered safe and is used as e.g. filler in pills.
AFAIK this makes sense. Asbestos is really dangerous only in the lungs, so you need to inhale a "friable" form of it somehow. Putting it in your stomach won't do anything.
I bet if you ate asbestos continually it would probably irritate the lining of your colon and increase the likelihood of IBS or Colon Cancer. Everything can and will kill you at some level.
Sounds complicated, and even if I did start chewing on brake pads (my only available source of asbestos) then my findings would be limited to n=1 which can be ignored or relegated to anecdote.
Phthalates and bisphenols can disrupt the production and regulation of estrogen and other hormones, potentially boosting the risk of birth defects, cancer, diabetes, infertility, neurodevelopmental disorders, obesity and other health problems.
From the article.
I’d prefer it if my food didn’t contain these substances, wouldn’t you ?
I try to stay up to date with scholarly research regarding microplastic dangers to humans, and so far there is no conclusive evidence that they do anything harmful to us.
Just know that you are exposed to many hundreds of actually harmful chemicals in your daily life -- but remember that it is the dose, not the presence of a toxin that causes harm. Even water will kill you if you drink too much of it.
Until there is a smoking gun regarding these particles and human health, it would do good to focus on things you can control that are known to be harmful, rather than something you can't that is only scary sounding.
That said, it is a good opportunity to use this to advocate for far less single-use plastics in society. We should not be using nearly as much plastic for nearly as many things as we do, and it needs to be drastically reduced.