Hope for a dying planet awash in plastic

Then make the issues relevant.

Hereā€™s one:

Source: ā€œMoleculesā€
Date: February 1, 2022
Article Name: Microplastics (Polystyrene) Exposure Induces Metabolic
Changes in the Liver of Rare Minnow (Gobiocypris rarus)
Authors: Chunling Wang
Miaomiao Hou
Kunyu Shang
Huanshan Wang
Jianwei Wang

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Phil, I spent a little time looking for studies and governmental reports relating to the Great Lakes, since this is an important issue here.
Here are a few things that looked reasonably reliable:
Watershed in Ontario, Canada

Wardlaw, C; Prosser, R S.
Water, Air and Soil Pollution; Dordrecht Vol. 231, Iss. 8, (Aug 2020). DOI:10.1007/s11270-020-04741-5

Occurrence, sources, human health impacts and mitigation of microplastic pollution
Karbalaei, Samaneh; Hanachi, Parichehr; Walker, Tony R; Cole, Matthew.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research International; Heidelberg Vol. 25, Iss. 36, (Dec 2018): 36046-36063. DOI:10.1007

This is actually presentation slides, but the author has references to authors of studies, but no formal bib. I did locate one group of authors associated with an article buthad no subscription access.
Microplastics and Marine Debris: Emerging Environmental Contaminants
Sarah Zack
Pollution Prevention Extension Specialist
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant & University of Illinois Extension
Michigan Sustainability Conference | September 18, 2018

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Most of the studies point out that more research is needed. Something I agree with.

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Plastic saved the planet.

What an absurd non sequitur. The planet ainā€™t saved, no way, no how.

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Absurdity is all the rage around here.

More in some corners than others, however.

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Interesting, though the slides mostly show problems with big plastic chunks. It is interesting how little is actually known. Interestingly, I came across one article stating that microplastics are additives in toothpaste (from India, so not sure if they are added to ours here.

Because itā€™s only started to be an area of research. But that is changing. Asbestos was once thought to be safe. And second-hand cigarette smoke. And so forth. Were you able to read the article I showed you?

Yer, interesting, but mostly speculation like the other articles.

 
Microbeads were ā€“

 
ā€¦and maybe something still is?

ā€¦but not all microplastic ingredients are microbeads.

There was a lot more. I didnā€™t have time to dig more, though, and lots were behind paywalls I donā€™t have keys for. Folks in Michigan can at least to get to abstracts of stuff in Elsevier datases theough Academic Search Complete in the eResources section of www.mel.org.
I would also check for EPA workat the federal level. I expect there is a good deal of government research going on, because there are real policy implications to this matter.

There is a lot on academic search premier

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One problem with small pieces of plastics is that plastic seems to suck up toxic incredients from the surrounding water. Bacteria may attach on the surface of plastic. I do not know if nanoplastic has the same problems but it is a possibility.

With microplastic, there is a possibility to get harmful effects both from the chemicals in the plastic and the toxic chemicals or bacteria that attach to the plastic. With the smallest microplastic or nanoplastic, there is also a possibility of physical damage at the cellular level as the smallest particles can penetrate our body. These are possibilities, what is reality is something that is poorly known. It is likely that negative effects are caused by a combination of two or more chemicals, which means that studying a particular chemical or plastic does not reveal the cumulative effects.

Many ā€˜biodegradableā€™ plastics break into small pieces, micro- and nanoplastic. To be truly biodegradable, the stuff should break directly into chemicals, not to small pieces. One problem is that ā€˜biodegradableā€™ plastic is designed to degrade at a fairly high temperature and suitable humidity. In cold or dry environments, the ā€˜biodegradableā€™ plastic may last decades or possibly even centuries.

There has been much speculation about what has caused the sperm counts of men drop drastically in western-type societies. It is possible that chemicals in plastics play a role. When I was a kid living in the countryside, we used less plastic, did not have goretex-type cloths or shoes, and the material life was also otherwise ā€˜oldfashionedā€™. In my generation, the sperm counts were high, higher than in most countries of Europe.
Then came the ā€˜modern styleā€™ society where everything was put into plastic containers or wrapped in plastic, goretex-type cloths and shoes replaced the old-fashioned rubber boots and raincoats, etc. The sperm counts of the next generations dropped much, to the level that was ordinary in countries that had gone through the same change earlier.
Was this caused by chemicals in plastics, or something else? I do not know but plastics may be involved.

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Yes, they should break down completely into chemicals, not pieces of plastic. Which ones donā€™t do this? Itā€™s better to avoid or reduce using plastic altogether as best as we can. Iā€™m starting to buy silicone bags for food. I donā€™t use bottled water. etc.

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Hi Beaglelady,

You mentioned this

I have been reticent to follow this trend, because silicone items often leave a residue on my hands. And I have not done any research yet what that could be or even on silicone safety in general.
Have you done any? What have you learned?

We use a lot more glass containers now at home, particularly for the fridge, and for the adult lunches going to work. Youngest kid is still carrying her lunch on the school bus, so her dishes are plastic, unless she needs a metal thermos for hot food. (Glass shards pose a different kind of safety threat in a lunch bag.)

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We would use more of those, if they could be recycled where we live. As-is, we primarily use long-term reusable plastic containers.

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I havenā€™t come across any safety issues but will look into it.

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Some glass jars, e.g. peanut butter jars, make good food storage containers.

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I save bread wrappers. They can be used for a lot of things. And Iā€™m well on the way to getting my food waste down to zero. When food scraps end up in a landfill they give off methane, a potent greenhouse gas. At our dump people can bring leaves, yard clippings and kitchen scraps like peels and egg shells. The town composts these and then gives away the compost!

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