The microplastics menace

Our world is saturated by plastics. These plastics degrade into microplastics and wreak havoc on the natural environment and pose a major threat to human health. It is high time that the global community, and us as individuals, began paying more attention to this plastics menace.

Microplastics can easily be transferred via the atmosphere, which explains how they have been spreading to even the most remote locations on Earth. Microplastics are not only found strewn across all sorts of landscapes, but they have also contaminated the seas, and our freshwater sources. Even the air we breathe contains microplastics.

Microplastics are prevalent throughout our food chain as well, including in fish, fruit, vegetables and meat. Traces of plastic have permeated the human body as well. There is plastic in our blood, in our brains, and even in unborn fetuses.

Evidence concerning the harmful effectives of microplastics is still emerging. Yet, there are already enough scientific studies done to demonstrate how microplastics are causing cardiac and kidney problems, increased risks of strokes in adults, and a spike in attention deficit hyperactivity disorders amongst children.

According to UN agencies, nearly 23 million tons of plastics annually leak into our oceans, rivers and lakes. A recent World Bank survey estimated that the Indus River alone pumps around 10,000 tonnes of macro-plastics into the Arabian Sea each year.

There are a lot of non-essential plastics used within the consumer goods industry, and even in medicine. Consider how hospitals around the world use plastic tubes for easing breathing problems, and to deliver life-saving medicine into our bodies. However, not much attention has been paid to how the plastics being used during medical interventions degrade and trigger other health issues.

At the UN's Environment Assembly in 2022, as many as 175 countries pledged to end plastic pollution. However, a legally binding agreement which makes it compulsory to ban single-use plastic and to install recycling technologies to minimise plastic pollution is yet to be implemented. National level efforts till now have been sporadic, and they have not been well implemented, such as the decision of making single-use plastics illegal in Pakistan.

Some technologies are emerging to tackle plastic pollution. For instance, researchers have developed robots to collect plastics. Other methods include using vegetable oil, iron oxide and magnets to extract microplastics from water.

We as individuals can only do so much to reduce overall plastic consumption. However, plastic exposure can be reduced by being more cautious. Health care providers, and those responsible for public health messaging, must pay much more attention to creating awareness concerning the adverse impact of microplastics, and how to avoid them.

For readers of this article, here are a few easy tips. Try using stainless steel frying pans instead of plastic-coated non-stick ones. Also avoid storing food or water in plastic containers, and get rid of plastic cutting boards, which also shed microplastics. Heating food in plastic containers is increasingly common within many homes which can afford such modest luxuries. However, heat tends to release more microplastics, so even using so-called microwave safe plastic containers is not a great idea.

A trickier problem relates to drinking water, which is saturated with many contaminants, including plastics. While bottled water has afforded us the luxury of avoiding many pollutants found in water delivered to our taps, bottled water contains higher levels of plastics than tap water does. Tiny microplastic particles are usually too small to be taken out by ordinary water filtration systems, but more specialised filters can get rid of them.

Entrepreneurially minded individuals may even want to consider investing in the production or sale of water filtration capable of removing microplastics, as it is unlikely that our decision-makers will get their act together enough to ensure public access to safe drinking water anytime soon.