“Plastic pollution is considered a global environmental threat, on par with climate change, biodiversity loss and ocean acidification,” warns the Italian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in a new report.
Tens of millions of tons (according to various calculations, 9 to 23 million tons) of plastic are washed into rivers, lakes and oceans every year. Of all these plastics, microplastics in particular raise concerns from an environmental and health point of view.
Microscopic plastic fragments less than 5 mm in size that can enter the aquatic environment either through fragmentation of larger objects or as such from products containing them (e.g. cosmetics, cleaning products, textiles), from tire wear or from industry itself in the refining of crude oil to produce pellets. 230,000 tons of this material alone for the production of all kinds of plastic items is lost during transport every year.
“Microplastics have already penetrated all aquatic environments: They have been found in seas, rivers, lakes, and even groundwater, from the seabed to the surface, from the poles to the tropics,” warns WWF. “The Mediterranean is the sea with the highest concentration of microplastics ever measured in the deep sea: 1.9 million fragments per square meter, thus exceeding the maximum permissible limit of microplastics.”
The basic molecules from which microplastics are made can be toxic in themselves, e.g. vinyl chloride, which makes up PVC, styrene, ethylene, propylene… In addition, microplastics contain toxic additives that can easily be released into the environment and into organismswhich will eat them, such as bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, brominated substances (PBDE), fluorinated substances (PFAS), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or metals.
Ingestion of microplastics has been recorded in at least 1,565 animal species (including 1,288 marine species and 277 terrestrial species) worldwide. Chemical substances from microplastics affect respiration, metabolism, and immunity of aquatic organisms, disrupt their reproduction and development, and have even been shown to affect the behavior of some animals.
In addition, microplastics stuck in organs cause inflammation and damage to internal tissues. Such effects have been observed in practically all aquatic organisms: from plankton to whales.
Microplastics also in the placenta
In humans, microplastics have been detected in feces (including the feces of children), in the placenta, in the blood, in the brain, in the intestines and deep in the lungs. Once microplastics enter our body, it is unable to break them down. The accumulation of this foreign material represents a permanent stimulus for inflammation, cellular changes and genotoxicity, which can lead to serious consequences including cancer, reproductive, developmental, respiratory and digestive problems, can contribute to obesity or diabetes…
A recent Italian study showed that they worsen vascular disease. Researchers have demonstrated a link between the presence of microplastics in atherosclerotic plaque (accumulation of fatty matter and white blood cells in the artery wall). Those who had microplastics in the plaque were more likely to have a heart attack or stroke within three years, medical researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.
In the seaside town of Ostia, near Rome, Pierluigi Capozzi overlooks the sea from his Mediterraneo restaurant. “50 years ago people may not have known what we know today about pollution and plastics,” he tells CNN. “But even today, I see how young people throw plastic bottles into the sea without problems, throw garbage on the ground, cigarettes, garbage.”
However, he also sees a bright spot. Ten years ago, every morning the sand in front of his beach restaurant was covered with chemicals from cargo ships that pass through routes visible from the coast. “Thanks to better regulation, this chemical pollution is now gone,” he says. Will it also see better control of plastic pollution?
