United States: Among the already extensive list of factors contributing to cardiovascular risk, including red meat, butter, smoking, and stress, a new addition is about to make its mark: microplastics. This recent finding is set to reshape our understanding of health risks.
According to one of the recent studies, this is found that surgical patients who have the build-up of micro and nano plastics within their arterial plaque have a 2.1 times higher risk of getting no-fatal heart attack, stroke, and death due to any reason within the past three years of post-surgery as compared to those who do not have it.
The outcomes of this research were made public on Wednesday and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
First study revealing direct impact on human health by microplastics
This groundbreaking study, led by Antonio Ceriello, head of the diabetes department at IRCCS MultiMedica, a research hospital in Milan, is the first to demonstrate the direct impact of these pervasive and harmful fossil fuel-based particles on human health, as the Los Angeles Times reported.
As per him, it is to serve as a caution call for everyone, including all people, governments, and corporations, that the role of plastic is not just limited to create nuisance and plague the environment, but also to create harm to human health.
As government officials, negotiators, environmental activists, and corporate representatives get ready to gather next month in Ottawa to discuss a global ban on plastic pollution, many are hoping this study will help tip the scales to establish real and tangible regulations.
Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College, said, “This is a beginning … whereby people are going to see plastic is not just harmful to whales or sea turtles. It’s not just litter on a beach in some faraway country. It’s in them, and it has the potential to cause harm. I think it’s going to change the narrative,” as per the Los Angeles Times.
Link of plastic crisis and climate change
Landrigan hinted that the plastic consciousness is as it was with the understanding of climate change. People have understood it in an abstract, theoretical way until the raging wildfires burned through their homes and sustained heat waves killed their crops while flooding destroyed everything about their community.
Landrigan was not part of the study and wrote an accompanying essay stating, “To my knowledge, this is the first report to link microplastics with human disease,” and urged the global community to deliver on a “mandatory global cap on plastic production.”
More research needs to be done – Experts
As per the suggestion granted by Matt Seaholm, president and chief executive of the Plastics Industry Assn. – there is a need for more research on the subject.
He added, “We encourage lawmakers to evaluate where those particles come from before using any type of microplastics or nanoplastics arguments for the justification or passage of any laws because every study has shown that they are not coming from packaging or single-use items,” as Los Angeles Times reported.
Contributors of microplastics
The two major givers of microplastics in the environment are the tires of cars and clothing made of synthetic fiber, as shown by various studies.
The research shows that the major causes of micro plastics in the environment are tires of car and synthesized clothes. Also, faster growing of the plastic industry and upturn of the use of single plastic items means faster contamination and pollution of the environment too.
As much as 151 million tons of single-use plastics made of fossil fuels go for in 2021’s figures. Moreover, this number should reach another 19 million tons in 2027.
Arterial plague research
The arterial plaque research was worked on by a group consisting of 40 scientists — surgeons, engineers, statisticians, and pathologists — from offices spanning 15 plus institutions, including the Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland.
The 257 patients who participated in the study all had significant atherosclerotic disease involving their extracranial segment of the internal carotid artery (ICES).
Patients had gone through carotid endarterectomies, which included opening the artery and plaque cleaning. Patients having previous problems related to heart failure, valvular defects, cancer, or any other cause of hypertension were withdrawn.
The scientists then looked at the plaque sample and discovered the presence of polyethylene micro- and nano- particles in 150 patient patients. Thirty patients had PVCl particles within their plaque. On electron microscopy images jagged-edged “foreign bodies” have been detected, which was the case in all of these patients, along with biological plaque.
Types of Polyethylene in use
Polyethylene (known as PET) is the plastic type fabricated to make cola and water bottles. One such type is that of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC for short, popularly used to produce water pipes, packing materials, medical devices, toothbrushes, children’s toys, and window frames, among others.