They do not only pollute the sea and the fields. Microplastics and nanoplastics are truly everywhere. In the air we breathe and the food we eat. And therefore, in our bodies too. And to prevent health damage, they need to be monitored. This is what emerges from a study carried out by a team from Arizona State University, presented on Monday 17 August at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

The group of researchers examined 47 samples of organic tissue (lungs, spleen, kidneys, liver) from a tissue bank established to study neurodegenerative diseases. The result: traces of micro- and nanoplastics were found in every sample examined.

Sharing research to monitor individual health

"It would be naïve to think that plastic is everywhere but not in us," said Rolf Halden, one of the researchers at Arizona State University. According to several studies, at least 50,000 microplastic particles are ingested or inhaled every year without our knowledge. "Now," Halden continues, "we are working on a research platform that will allow us and others to search for what is invisible: these particles too small to be seen with the naked eye."

The US team's intention is in fact to share with other scientists both the data and the analytical technique — which makes it possible to identify dozens of types of plastic — in order to monitor levels of microplastics in the human body and prevent potentially serious health damage.

Possible health damage from microplastics

In addition to PET, polyethylene terephthalate used in plastic bottles for beverages, and polyethylene used in plastic bags, the researchers found traces of BPA, or bisphenol A, in all the samples. Both according to the American EPA – Environmental Protection Agency and the EFSA – European Food Safety Authority, this substance at high doses causes liver and kidney disorders, and damage to the reproductive, nervous, immune, metabolic and cardiovascular systems, or the possibility of inducing cancer, cannot be entirely ruled out.

According to studies conducted so far, current exposure to plastics would be too low to cause truly serious damage. For this reason, a technique that allows the accumulation of micro- and nanoplastics in tissues to be monitored is essential for establishing the toxicity of these materials to the human body.

Thanks to information provided by tissue donors about their lifestyles, dietary habits and occupations, the research group is also working to determine the routes of exposure to microplastics. The aim: to create a global database on plastic exposure, enabling comparisons of exposure across organs and groups of people over time and across geographical space. And to establish, once and for all, what the risk to our bodies actually is.