Plastic Soup Foundation
  • The issue
      • Plastic Soup
      • What is plastic?
      • Plastic in the environment
      • Harm to animals
      • Health effects
      • Regulations
      • Bogus solutions
      • Responsibilities
      • Sustainable development
      • Facts & Figures
  • What we do
      • Health
      • Microplastics
      • Education
      • Plastic Waste
  • What you can do
      • As a consumer
      • As an organization
      • As a school
  • Solutions
  • News
  • Donate
  • EN
  • NL
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: News Microplastic particles can enter our lungs and blood

Microplastic particles can enter our lungs and blood

8 April 2022

For the first time, plastic particles have been detected in human lungs of living people. In healthy lung tissue of 11 out of 13 patients microplastics were found, most common were polypropylene and PET. Read about it in The Guardian. One month ago, plastic particles were found in human blood for the first time, as published in Environment International. This is shocking news.

The plastic we encounter in everyday life can make its way into our body and travel to critical organs.

HUMAN HEALTH RISK

We are exposed to increasing amounts of microplastics in our environment; we eat, drink and breathe microplastic particles every day. Years ago, plastic particles have been detected in food (like fish, honey, salt) and drink (water, beer). Plastic particles have also been found in human organs such as the lungs of deceased people and even in the placenta. This is a major cause of concern.

Yet, we still know relatively little about the risk these particles pose to human health, mainly because the methodology to accurately measure microplastics in the human (or animal) body was not available. Scientists from the VU have now developed a new method that makes it possible to detect minuscule amounts of tiny plastic particles in human blood.

BLOOD IRRIGATES THE BODY

As we eat, drink and inhale, essential nutrients are absorbed and enter the bloodstream. Blood makes up 6-7% of body weight in humans and as it flows through the body, it provides organs with oxygen, nutrients and potentially also plastic particles.

The researchers tested the blood of 22 anonymous donors for the presence of 5 types of plastic that are commonly used for food storage, textiles and a wide range of other products humans come into daily contact with. 77% of the donors did indeed have microplastics in their blood. PET, Polystyrene, and Polyethylene were the most widely encountered and some donors even had three different polymer types in their blood. This means that at least some of the plastic particles humans come in contact with can become available to critical organs like the placenta, brain or kidneys via the bloodstream.

NO EXCUSE

These results are very disconcerting. The need to assess the associated hazard of such exposure has become even more urgent. Do the particles accumulate? What are the long-term effects of these particles in our bodies? How do the particles interfere with our immune regulation or how does that affect the predisposition to diseases with an immunological base? This requires large-scale external exposure studies to find out.

With the new technique, there is no excuse to postpone such studies.

You may also be interested in:

Blood tests in petrels show unknown effects on plastic pollution

New studies: microplastics found in fruit and veg

How damaging is breathing in microplastics?

The first evidence of health risks from micro and nano plastics

Search

Categories

  • Junior (1)
  • Microplastics in cosmetics (1)
  • News (526)
  • What can you do? (13)
  • No category (1)
  • Health Files (38)
  • Clean rivers (24)
  • Plastic soupermarket (2)
  • Trash hunters (49)
  • What is plastic soup? (12)
  • What to do with plastic waste? (12)
  • Types of plastic (3)
  • Press releases (16)
  • Beat the microbead (16)
  • Solutions (11)
  • Don't use balloons (3)
  • Gezondheidseffecten (56)
  • Animal cruelty (13)
  • Job openings (1)
  • Microbeads (27)
  • sponsoring campaign (1)
  • Ocean Clean Wash (12)
  • Sponsor actions (3)
  • Plastic Urban Mining (4)
  • About us (1)
  • My little plastic footprint (5)
  • Blogs (16)
  • Synthetic fibers (19)
  • Plastic Soup Awards (3)
  • actions frontpage (1)
  • Political plume (3)
  • Pressreleases (2)
  • nurdles (5)

Subscribe to our newsletter

and stay informed about our activities!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Donate now and contribute

I'll donate € 5I'll donate € 10I'll donate € 15Other amount

More news

Is sunlight causing the plastic soup to disappear?

Dutch researchers find a new explanation to the mystery of the disappeared plastic: sunlight clears away floating plastic.

Read more

Danone hauled up before the French court for excessive use of plastic

The multinational Danone has been charged in France for not having a plastic policy to prevent damage to the environment and health.

Read more

Research intern: Biodegradability of viscose

We are looking for a Campaigner for our (Plastic) Fashion campaign. You will strengthen the campaign team that works on the problems related to microplastics and what plastic is doing to our health.

Read more

Really? European Consumers’ Associations think the plastic bag is the best option? We don’t think so and here’s why!

In November 2022 the Dutch Consumers’ Association Consumentenbond published the results of a report which made us raise our eyebrows.

Read more

About us

  • Frontrunners
  • Mission & Vision
  • Our People
  • Working with Us
  • Annual Reports
  • Inquiries Press
  • Newsletter

Our approach

  • Plastic Soup Angels
  • Funds & Partners
  • Ambassadors
  • Plastic Soup Awards
  • Plastic Soup Atlas
  • Facts & Figures
DONATE
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • LinkedIn

  • YouTube

  • Contact

 

© Copyright - Plastic Soup Foundation
  • Contact
  • Privacy policy
  • GDPR Consent Settings
Almost 9 in 10 products from major cosmetics brands contain microplasticsPlastic on your faceAhold Delhaize’s plastic policy has improved but still falls short
Scroll to top

GDPR settings

This website uses some cookies which are placed on your device. Your web browser stores these cookies when you visit our Website: www.plasticsoupfoundation.org. These cookies will be retrieved when you visit or use our Website again. This allows us to recognise you as a previous visitor/user.

x
Settings

Your privacy and this website...

This website uses some cookies which are placed on your device. Your web browser stores these cookies when you visit our Website: www.plasticsoupfoundation.org. These cookies will be retrieved when you visit or use our Website again. This allows us to recognise you as a previous visitor/user.

Functional technology enables a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. No personalised information is collected.

See details

This consent is used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.

See details

This consent helps website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting.

See details
Forget my settings Settings have been forgotten