Having talked to a Doctor friend about this he suggests the only safe way to deal with it is to draw blood, to dispose of it, and let the body recover. He had some concern that some of the plastic was as small as blood cells and platelets so might be too hard to filter out. But I guess research will look at that.

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That’s not surprising given this.

    Which foods contain microplastics?

    “They’re in everything you eat or drink,” says Mason. But the largest dietary source of microplastics can be found in drinking water. One 2018 study by Mason and her team discovered plastic particles in 93% of bottled water samples. Another from the year before found 83% of tap water samples from around the world contained microplastics. (The United States was the worst off, with a 94% rate of tap water contamination.)

    Human plastic waste can also be found throughout the marine environment. It’s present on a macro level: in the form of huge, churning trash heaps in remote parts of the ocean and as particulate matter embedded into the ocean floor. But also more acutely: in the flesh of many species of fish, like mackerel and anchovies, and mollusks.

    Other studies have found microplastics in beer, wines with polyethylene stoppers, rice, table salts, and honey. Microplastics can even be found in fruits and vegetables—like apples, broccoli, and carrots—with plants able to absorb nanoplastics through their root systems. And plastic tea bags are leaching billions of particles every time you make a cup of Earl Gray.

    Likewise, “anything that has been packaged in plastic is going to have plastic in it,” says Mason. And it’s almost impossible to eat a meal without ingesting particulate matter. “There’s plastic in the air,” says Mason, which can potentially settle on everything it comes in contact with.

    • DuncanIdaho@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Thats the thing, some of these particles are smaller than our cells. You cant technically filter. Not with current techniques that is

    • DuncanIdaho@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I’m now wondering how many heart attacks and strokes have been caused by this. Typically they look at the symptoms not the cause in that much depth. Especially if the patient survives the initial episode.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Perhaps it’s one of the factors contributing to all of the heart attacks occurring before 50. But that could just be garden variety hyper stress that our overlords put on us.

    • GlendatheGayWitch@lib.lgbt
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      1 year ago

      IIRC, there are some who think this could be a reason why there are more cancer cases now as tiny microplastics make their way into various cells.

      • Nachorella@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Maybe if we spread the rumour that microplastics cause autism and being gay we can get some proper support from the government to stop using plastic and do some proper research on solutions.