Scientists first discovered microplastics, these tiny items of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, on British beaches in 2004. Within the 20 years since, the world has watched on in horror as microplastics started turning up in nearly each nook and cranny on the planet. At present, we’ve obtained far-from-complete checklist that provides you an thought of simply how dangerous issues have gotten.
There’s nonetheless a lot we don’t learn about what microplastics are doing to ecosystems and our our bodies, however latest research recommend they will trigger behavioral changes in mice, heart problems in humans, and maybe even human infertility. One examine discovered that people eat at the least 50,000 plastic particles a 12 months. As Gizmodo has defined earlier than, it’s a waste of time to attempt to extract microplastics from the environment if we proceed producing plastic on the identical ranges we all the time have.
So the place, precisely, are we discovering microplastics? The checklist beneath consists of a few of the most regarding places, both due to the implications for our well being or as a result of they reveal simply how omnipresent the contamination is.
This checklist can be periodically up to date as new analysis detects microplastics in additional locations.
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