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Toxic plastic pollution is everywhere, even clogged arteries. We asked a Colorado doctor how to stay healthy. (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Micro- and nano-scopic sized pieces of plastic people use everyday can eventually find its way into the most unlikely of places, even in the plaque of clogged arteries of cardiac patients, a recent study found.

"If microplastics might be promoting coronary disease, you might not be able to avoid ingesting the microplastics, because they're everywhere, but you can sure do the other things. You can keep your blood pressure low. You can exercise. You can get your cholesterol measured," Gerber said.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (10 children)

It says the plastic pollution in the clogged arteries are toxic, is that true? It was my understanding that they don't actually know what effect the plastics have on the body, and people just assume the effects are bad (not unreasonably).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

That's what this study from last March says (see link in the description):

A total of 304 patients were enrolled in the study, and 257 completed a mean (±SD) follow-up of 33.7±6.9 months. Polyethylene was detected in carotid artery plaque of 150 patients (58.4%), with a mean level of 21.7±24.5 μg per milligram of plaque; 31 patients (12.1%) also had measurable amounts of polyvinyl chloride (...)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

This just shows the plastic is found in the arterial plaque, ~~not that the plastic has a toxic effect on the body~~.

EDIT: The article in question did find a correlation with the presence of microplastics in the plaque and worse health outcomes compared to those without microplastics detected in their plaque:

In this study, patients with carotid artery plaque in which MNPs were detected had a higher risk of a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from any cause at 34 months of follow-up than those in whom MNPs were not detected.

I totally could be wrong, but I thought when they discover microplastics cause some kind of health condition that would be huge news.

Searching around, I found this article talking about the known toxic effects of additives like BPA: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7920297/

But I don't think that demonstrates the toxicity of microplastics accumulating in the body.

This article had more promising citations to follow-up on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics_effects_on_human_health

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Looks like I misread your question.

It says the plastic pollution in the clogged arteries are toxic, is that true?

My understanding is that the title defines plastic as toxic in general. In the article there is another link from EPA which

...has deemed some PFAS compounds that have been more readily studied as toxic to humans.

For the first time ever, the EPA passed laws this year limiting certain PFAS in drinking water, and Colorado passed laws that will eventually ban the sales of certain products with PFAS, like dental floss and feminine hygiene products.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Right, but PFAS isn't even plastic, it's a chemical used as a coating to make things like take-out containers waterproof. PFAS is its own environmental catastrophe, but it doesn't relate to whether microplastics are toxic.

Plastic itself isn't toxic, in fact plastic is biochemically inert (not a source, but further reading on Wikipedia). Various additives to plastic have been shown to be toxic, but those are less relevant to discussions of accumulating microplastics in the body.

Some contexts would be more likely to have negative health impact from microplastics, like when there are larger particles of plastic in the air that factory workers get in their lungs, maybe those particles could cause mechanical damage to the lungs that lead to cancers or other conditions.

That is speculative, and it shows we need more studies to find ways that microplastics impact health, but the title is a little misleading characterizing plastics as toxic in the context of microplastics in arterial plaque, since that is not demonstrated to pose a health risk (even if we all agree it is concerning and may pose some kind of health risk we aren't yet aware of).

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