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Eat, Sleep, Breathe, Microplastics?
By Hailey Doroteo
Editor: Steven Le
Carbon, a chemical element, is commonly known as the building block of life. Similarly, plastic, an extremely versatile synthetic material, has become essential to the creation of products. Plastic changed the industrialization market permanently in the year 1869, when it was first discovered by John Wesley Hyatt. However, as human civilization continues to advance, the methods in which they produce waste and manage it, remains the same. Humans continue to calmly live in a world with huge land fills of waste, adding up to more than 450 million tonnes (Ritchie et al.), of plastic all over the globe. Often times, humans believe that their own actions leave little to no effect on the environment, but as the only mammal with the ability to create plastic, they surrounded themselves in a dangerous cycle as plastic begins to degrade into their daily lives, entering their body and correlating to dozens of disorders they are unknowingly causing themselves.
Plastic does not degrade easily, and in turn becomes microplastics and nanoplastics, which range from the size of a grain of salt to the width of a DNA strand, and are completely inhalable. Meaning these particles are everywhere, from food, including animal meat, to the air humanity breathes in and clothes they live in, entering their body in every shape and form.
Plastic does not degrade easily, and in turn becomes microplastics and nanoplastics, which range from the size of a grain of salt to the width of a DNA strand, and are completely inhalable. Meaning these particles are everywhere, from food, including animal meat, to the air humanity breathes in and clothes they live in, entering their body in every shape and form.
Food
There is no shock to find a modern-day ocean being polluted with tons of waste, where fish regularly breathe in this polluted water and eat while inhabiting this sea. Marine life, such as shellfish, have been examined to find large percentages of microplastics inside them, which may transfer to predatory consumption (Mir et al.). According to the U.S Food and Drug administration, microplastics have been discovered in the company of salt, sugar, honey, milk and tea. Although, how much danger may microplastics really cause? According to supervisory scientist at Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Gregory M. Zarus, et al, found that through the digestion of microplastics, there may be a link to liver cancer, easier access to enter cell membranes and may enter the blood stream through the lymphatic system along with other proteins and immune cells.Clothes
Microplastics, even shed off of fabric, especially when washing them, these microfibers head to the rivers and oceans of the environment. The release from the clothes when washing at home makes up nearly 35% of all global release of microplastics (Beck). All of which may be easily avoided if an individual washes their clothes less frequently or using plastic free fabrics
Atmosphere
Is there any escape? Even with a healthy diet, lifestyle and environment, there is no area where microplastics cease to exist. This creates an extreme issue as these microscopic particles may be easily inhaled into the human body. According to the Center for International and Environmental Law, inhaling microplastics may lead to more than 30 issues, disorders and diseases. Most notably leading to Neurodevelopmental disorders, Hormonal disorders, Cardiovascular diseases, Respiratory diseases, male and female reproductive health issues, Metabolic diseases, pregnancy outcome issues and other health outcomes.
Therefore, it is crucial to address this serious issue, not only causing tons of waste on the earth, but pollution, and health issues for both sea animals and humans. These effects are drastic and lead to dangerous consequences if humans continue to consistently use plastic in their lives. In addition to the refusal to recycle, consistent support for consumerism companies offering inexpensive clothes, and frequent cloth washing, all contributing to the landfills of waste ultimately harming humans through both their bodies and environment.
Works Cited
Beck, Jessica. “Microplastics Lurking in Your Laundry | Green America.” Www.greenamerica.org, Aug. 2023, www.greenamerica.org/your-green-life/microplastics-lurking-your-laundry.
FDA. “Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Foods.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 24 July 2024, www.fda.gov/food/environmental-contaminants-food/microplastics-and-nanoplastics-foods.
Furbank, Lani. “Breathing Plastic: The Health Impacts of Invisible Plastics in the Air.” Center for International Environmental Law, 27 Mar. 2023, www.ciel.org/breathing-plastic-the-health-impacts-of-invisible-plastics-in-the-air/.
Geng, Yuli, et al. “Toxicity of Microplastics and Nanoplastics: Invisible Killers of Female Fertility and Offspring Health.” Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 14, 2023, p. 1254886, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2023.1254886.
Mir, M. Amin, et al. “Microplastics in Food Products: Prevalence, Artificial Intelligence Based Detection, and Potential Health Impacts on Humans.” Emerging Contaminants, vol. 11, no. 2, Elsevier, Jan. 2025, p. 100477, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2025.100477.
Ritchie, Hannah, et al. “Plastic Pollution.” Our World in Data, 2023, ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution.
Science History Institute. “History and Future of Plastics.” Science History Institute, 2025, www.sciencehistory.org/education/classroom-activities/role-playing-games/case-of-plastics/history-and-future-of-plastics/.
Zarus, Gregory M., et al. “A Review of Data for Quantifying Human Exposures to Micro and Nanoplastics and Potential Health Risks.” Science of the Total Environment, vol. 756, Nov. 2020, p. 144010, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144010.
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