Scientists have found traces of microplastics in human blood for the first time. Microplastics are miniscule, invisible pieces of plastic that have been found all over the world, including in the most remote and inaccessible places such as ocean floors. With their discovery in human blood, it is being warned that they may find their way into organs as well.
On Friday, March 25th, a study by Dutch scientists published in the journal Environment International took blood samples of 22 anonymous and healthy volunteers and found microplastics in 80% of the samples. The samples showed traces of PET plastic, commonly used in manufacturing plastic water bottles.
Microplastics Confirmed In Blood, But Research On Effects Needed
Dick Vethaak, an an ecotoxicologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said to AFP that further research is need to study the effects of the presence of microplastics in the human body. "This is proof that we have plastics in our body — and we shouldn't," he said, adding: "Where is it going in your body? Can it be eliminated? Excreted? Or is it retained in certain organs, accumulating maybe, or is it even able to pass the blood-brain barrier?"
Fay Couceiro, reader in biogeochemistry and environmental pollution at the University of Portsmouth, said that since blood links all the organs of the body, the plastics could travel anywhere in the body.
The study was funded by Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, and Common Seas, a U.K.-based project that works on global plastic pollution.
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