this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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I could totally look this up, but for the sake of conversation: what consequences does the presence of microplastics have? I honestly don't know
That's the problem, we don't really know yet.
And at this point finding a control group that isn't contaminated is incredibly difficult if not impossible
Maybe we can get one of those people living completely isolated from society.
Even uncontacted tribes in the middle of nowhere islands probably have microplastics in their blood too. After all, they likely are eating animals that have microplastics. Stuff like this always gets worse the higher up the food chain you get, and humans are pretty high up.
With the amount of trash in the ocean, I wouldn't be surprised if even an uncontacted tribe is running around in mismatched sandals and drinking out of old plastic bottles.
A guy I watch on YT has done a couple of short shipwreck survival challenges on some of the little islands off the coast of Australia. He starts barefoot and with no supplies and within an hour of scavenging the beach he has a pair of sandals, a half dozen bottles, both plastic and glass, and usually some fishing line or rope.
name of the channel?
RoKKiT KiT
He's a laid back Aussie dude that does mostly ocean-based solo beach camping catch and cooks.
I'm on the other side of the world, half a days travel from the ocean, so his channel provides me an interesting and often beautiful perspective of a life very different than my own.
Some might say the top, if you will.
If it's actually present in clouds their water will be contaminated as well. They probably have a way lower exposure.
So, the big stink about BPA ~~(a type of plastic)~~ e:below is that it interferes with certain hormones in the body. I don't know for sure what the concerns are with other microplastics, but I do remember reading they strongly suspect they can do similar things to our endocrine systems, as well as being probable carcinogens.
No. BPA is not a type of plastic. It is a compound used to manufacture plastic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A
As to the health effects, this is from the wikipedia article:
My entire life I've watched girls get breasts at a younger and younger age....
Something creepy about the above statement...
Anyway: They are linking microplastics to infertility in men. It's messing with the little swimmers. Figure the same would happen in most species.
Yeah, should have said 'noticed' rather than 'watched'
Nah, they keep getting younger and younger, the girls stay the same age. Benjamin Button gets away with being creepy because reasons 😂
"Fertility rate and motility in sperm is down 50% and we don't understand why!"
There was an article i saw on here a few weeks ago about a study linking microplastics to changes in the brain that have been associated with dementia.
Mostly we have no idea though.
i have zero idea and this is a guess
maybe it could clog up systems if theres too much build up coz it doesn't get broken down or smth
like fish dying and having plastic shit clogging up their organs when cut open