You are always eating plastic and now drowning in it

Did you know that microplastics are already present in the human bloodstream? Dick Vethaak, emeritus professor of Water Quality and Health at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, studied blood samples from 22 healthy volunteers. He discovered that 80 per cent had MPs in their system. Half the samples had traces of PET plastic used in the production of bottles. More than one-third of the specimens contained polystyrene, used in disposable food containers. Vethaak’s study, published in the Environment International Journal in March 2022, showed that MPs can invade the human body by air, water and food, and even through toothpaste and cosmetics. “It is scientifically plausible that plastic particles may be transported to organs via the bloodstream,” he says. A study in May 2023 published in the Physics of Fluid Journal found that inhaled MPs collect in the nasal cavity or at the back of the throat.