Particle Science, and Why You Might Not Drink a Toast to It

 

Just spent a few extra bucks on chichi bottled water? Pure, clean and refreshing? Well, apparently not exactly. Writing for the January 9th Los Angeles Times, Corinne Purtill and Susanne Rust break the bad news based on the most recent particle scientific studies: “It seems anywhere scientists look for plastic, they find it: from the ice in Antarctica to the first bowel movement produced by newborn babies… Now, researchers are finding that the amount of microscopic plastics floating in bottled drinking water is far greater than initially believed.

“Using sophisticated imaging technology, scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty laboratory examined water samples from three popular brands (they won’t say which ones) and found hundreds of thousands of bits of plastic per liter of water… Ninety percent of those plastics were small enough to qualify as nanoplastics: microscopic flecks so small that they can be absorbed into human cells and tissue, as well as cross the blood-brain barrier.

“The research, which was published [January 8th] in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, raises new concerns about the potentially harmful health effects — and prevalence — of nanoplastics. The researchers found that the quantity of such particles was 10 to 100 times greater than previously estimated.

“‘For a long time before this study, I actually thought that what was inside bottled water [in terms of] nanoplastics was just a few hundred PET particles,’ said Naixin Qian, a Columbia chemistry graduate student and the study’s lead author. ‘It turns out to be much more than that.’ PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is a type of clear plastic that is commonly used for single-use water bottles.

“Microplastics — particles that range from 1 micrometer to 5 milimeters in size — have been documented in bottled and tap water for several years. But the identification of nanoplastics — particles that measure just billionths of a meter — is raising alarms… The incredibly small size of nanoparticles allows them to behave differently than larger pieces of matter, said Beizhan Yan , a Columbia environmental chemist and a co-author of the study.

“Pollutants and pathogens can be carried on the surface of a particle, and the smaller a particle gets, the larger its surface area-to-volume ratio becomes… As a result, Yan said, ‘even if they’re not that toxic at a larger particle size, when they become smaller they become toxic, because they can interfere in the cells, in the tissues, inside of the organelles.’”

Generally, according to a February 13, 2020 report from our National Institutes of Health, “Microplastics can contain two types of chemicals: (i) additives and polymeric raw materials (e.g., monomers or oligomers) originating from the plastics, and (ii) chemicals absorbed from the surrounding ambience… Many substances that are classified as hazardous according to the EU regulation on classification and labelling are present in everyday products as regular ingredients.

“The toxicity of a substance is its ability to cause harmful effects. These effects can strike a single cell, a group of cells, an organ system, or the entire body. Chemicals that are considered most harmful are those that cause cancer, mutations to DNA, have toxic reproductive effects, are recalcitrant into the environment, are capable of building up in the food chain or bodies, and other harmful properties, such as disrupting hormones. The internal organs that are most commonly affected are the liver, the kidneys, the heart, the nervous system (including the brain) and the reproductive system.

“Among these chemicals, many routinely used to make plastics are dangerous. Bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, as well as some of the brominated flame retardants, that are used to make household products and food packaging, have been proven to be endocrine disruptors that can damage human health if ingested or inhaled.

“Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), identified as substances that are exogenous to the human or animal organism, have hormonal activity that alters the homeostasis of the endocrine system, so they are of particular concern. These compounds interfere with the development of the endocrine system and affect the functioning of organs that respond to hormonal signals. The endocrinal and reproductive effects of endocrine disruptors may be a consequence of their ability to: (a) mimic natural hormones, (b) antagonize their action, (c) alter their pattern of synthesis and metabolism, or (d) modify the expressions of specific receptors.”

What’s worse, we have been operating on an assumption of a much lower level of intake of microplastics, and so we really have just begun to drill down on the full list of risks to our environment, and, selfishly, our own bodies. “Now, a team of physicians, epidemiologists and endocrinologists by from NYU, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Defend Our Health — an environmental organization based in Portland, Maine have estimated the costs of plastic exposure on the U.S. healthcare system and come to a sobering conclusion. In 2018, several common endocrine disruptors cost the nation almost $250 billion.

“‘This study is really meant to put a bright, bold line underneath the fact that plastics are a human health issue,’ said Leo Trasande, a pediatrician and public policy expert at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and Wagner School of Public Service… ‘Fundamentally, we’re talking about effects that run the entire life span study from brain development in young children ... to cancer,’ he said.” Susanne Rust, writing for the January 18th LA Times. Humanity has made it so far, but how has this explosion of particles negatively impacted the quality of our lives? We are really just beginning to learn how much. Doesn’t this just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside? Oh, that’s not a fuzzy feeling… it’s more like…

I’m Peter Dekom, and when a “maybe but probable” toxic substance, however tiny, has entered our bodies at a rate 10 to 100 times greater than previously estimated, I think we all need to pay attention!