Microplastics reach the blood

We know that microplastics are lodged in the human intestine, coming from the drinks and food that we consume on a daily basis. It is estimated that every week we can swallow on average between 0.1 and 0.5 grams of these residues without realizing it.

The interest of Science in investigating the consequences of this reality bears fruit every day. One of the most recent, with a Spanish signature, consisted of discovering what effects this accumulation of plastic waste has on this highly delimited part of the body. Specifically, the CSIC researchers who authored the study verified that it contributed to the proliferation of bad bacteria, which implies an alteration of the human microbiota.

But what has not been seen until now is that these millimeter-sized pieces of plastic had reached the human bloodstream. A group of Dutch scientists says they have evidence of having found these remains in the blood, which means that they can travel through the body and lodge in different vital organs. What remains to be discovered is what effects this has on health.

The unusual find was published last week in the journal
Environment International by a team of scientists from the Department of Environment and Health at the VU University of Amsterdam. In their conclusions, they found traces of four polymers (plastics) in the blood of 17 of the 22 volunteers whose blood they analyzed.

Four types of polymers identified

“Four high-volume production polymers applied in plastic were identified and quantified for the first time in blood. Polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene and styrene polymers (a sum parameter of polystyrene, expanded polystyrene, acetonitrile butadiene styrene, etc.), followed by polymethyl acrylate methyl”, specify the researchers.

Translated to the consumer level, half of the samples contained PET plastic, which is commonly used in beverage bottles, while a third contained polystyrene, which is used to package food and other products. A quarter of the blood samples contained polyethylene, from which plastic bags are made.

At the same time, they recognize that, once this “pioneering” work has been carried out, it remains to understand the consequences “of exposure to these substances in humans and the associated danger of said exposure, in order to determine whether or not exposure to plastic particles is a risk to human health.” public health”.

Regarding the appearance of these particles, they may not correspond to images like the one illustrated in this article, but rather they are completely imperceptible to the human eye. The study focused on particles that a filter with a maximum pore size of 0.0007 millimeters could retain.

Professor Dick Vethaak, an ecotoxicologist at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, is one of the authors of a work that, although he qualifies as “unique”, acknowledges that it requires a second extension part. Vethaak, who has directed much of his research activity to environmental pollution by plastics, assumes that the sample of volunteers is small and insists on the need to continue research in this field to determine its impact on the health of the organism.

A job that requires expansion

“It remains to be determined whether plastic particles are present in plasma or transported by specific cell types, and to what extent such cells may be involved in the translocation of plastic particles through the mucosa into the bloodstream,” clarify.

Finally, it leaves an open question: “If plastic particles present in the bloodstream are being transported by immune cells… Can such exposures potentially affect immune regulation or predisposition to immune-based disease?”

The answer remains to be determined through future research in this field. For now, the unusual find has been made possible thanks to funding from the Dutch National Organization for Health Research and Development and Common Seas, a social enterprise that works to reduce plastic pollution.

The latter, together with more than 80 NGOs, scientists and parliamentarians, ask the British authorities to provide 15 million pounds for research on the impact of plastic on human health.

The EU is already funding research on the impact of microplastics on fetuses and babies, as well as on the immune system.