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 the moment, we’ve acquired far-from-complete checklist that provides you an concept of simply how unhealthy issues have gotten.
There’s nonetheless a lot we don’t find out about what microplastics are doing to ecosystems and our our bodies, however current research counsel they will trigger behavioral changes in mice, heart problems in humans, and maybe even human infertility. One research discovered that people eat a minimum of 50,000 plastic particles a yr. As Gizmodo has defined earlier than, it’s a waste of time to attempt to extract microplastics from our surroundings if we proceed producing plastic on the similar ranges we at all times have.
So the place, precisely, are we discovering microplastics? The checklist under consists of among 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 will probably be periodically up to date as new analysis detects microplastics in additional locations.
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