That’s why I go to the source and chew plastics.
I’ve already been assuming micro plastics are in literally everything on the planet after it’s been found in so many things in recent years. At this point, it would be more surprising to know what doesn’t have micro plastics in it.
I’d also like to see more studies on the effects of micro plastics being in everything. Shits in our fucking balls but we don’t know if it’s harming us. Everything sure wants to make you scared of it, though. I just wanna know if we really should be. I mean, I don’t think it’s good but still.
I think there was a thing done that said they found microplastics in our brains
Ouch my balls
Life evolves in a certain environment, and usually anything that changes that environment will be bad. And some organisms adapt to that bad, and some don’t.
An example of this is stuff like highly processed foods, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, women in the workforce, and effects of fetal health. I am in favor of women’s rights, but female stress and alcohol use and cigarette usage have all been found to affect prenatal health, and women in the workforce during pregnancy may be correlated with higher female stress. (I am in favor of women in science and working, that is not an anti-woman comment.)
So the human body is always signaling to other cells and neighboring cells and if there’s plastic blocking the signaling, it’s going to effect how cells grow and die and likely their epigenetic expression. The question is how much? If the microplastics are damaging cells, and they likely do but knowledge to be sure, then there’s resulting healing processes that may increase inflammation, and inflammation has wide-ranging effects on organic systems.
I can’t fathom that these microplastic don’t impact prenatal health. Babies in utero are more impacted by smaller things because it changes the growth patterns.
It also seems very likely to me that having things like this, which could alter epigenetics and brain structure growth, would possibly result in more varied phenotypes (ie, more autism, more transgender people, etc) and more miscarriages. I say this as someone who is pro-LGBT, but a lot of these microplastics act as endocrine disruptors.
When you see Elon Musk doing so much Ketamine that he’s starting to, according to some, lose it, and he’s possibly using Ketamine for depression, it is likely because of how environmentally fucked the planet is. His whole angle is to get the fuck off this planet and try again somewhere else and it may or may not work.
This planet is environmentally fucked, and environmental problems show the core problem with Democracy: when you have scientific idiots choosing which psychopath to govern, it doesn’t usually result in ecological harmony. Then all the communist governments are just trying to compete with the capitalist governments, fatally chugging along. The Scandanavian countries, with their death metal and embrace of nihilism, are filled with people who accept that we may all be doomed, although some of them are trying. Then you have pockets of liberals all over who are keyboard warriors while the real activists are few and far between. And it may not even matter if there is activism. It’s almost certainly too late and we’re all going to die. Try to look surprised when it happens.
It’s likely the microplastics are making human stupidity increase, thereby leading people to ignore environmental logic, thereby leading to more microplastics, thereby increasing human stupidity, etc.
If this interests you, consider the book Ultra Processed People.
Yummy, I love eating micro plastics…😋
Because… they’re made of microplastics?
… Must be a coincidence.
I’m ignorant. Have micro plastics been proven to be harmful?
There are hints about them having carcinogen properties and promoting cerebral disorders (they do cross the blood-brain-barrier). But since human health is complex, not much evidence yet.
At the very least, significantly more microplastics were found in corpses of people who had dementia and the volume has increased between 2016 and 2024.
Correlation vs causation will require more research but it surely can’t be harmful begin to reduce exposure where we can as we didn’t have microplastics resident in our body for most of human history. I’d hazard an educated guess that accumulating any inorganic material inside your body isn’t good for you.
Yess, as they accumulate in the body at least.
That’s not evidence of anything though.
How is that proof that they’re harmful?
I’d never have thought rubber or petroleum would be in a food.
Well in the case of chewing gum, it basically IS plastic.
I find that terrifying.
Most commercial gums use a “synthetic gum base.” It has been made with latex, chickle, all manner of crap.
But which gum? I’m chewing gum right now and would prefer diet plastic gum if possible.
Almost all modern gum base is made from rubber/plastic. If you want plastic free gum you’ll likely have to switch to one that specifically advertised as such. Most people talk about Simply Gum; I’ve never tried it personally and don’t know much about the company
“Surprisingly, the natural based gums gave off the same amount of microplastics” so I’m not sure it’s worth switching from the one you like. The better way to reduce your intake is not to start a new piece, instead keep chewing the old one that’s releasing fewer and fewer particles. The best choice would be to stop chewing gum, but it helps me eat less, also there’s apparently microplastics in foods too, and in everything else including our eyeballs.
How do gum bases not made of plastic give off plastic? Chicle and other natural gum bases come from plants.
I don’t know, I just quoted the study.
My theory as a non-scientist would be that the plastics aren’t from the gum at all, but the gums and tongue which are apparently already full of them, according to random things on the Internet.
But that just shows how stupid it is to ask me
Your question made me wonder - what if the plants had micro plastics lol.
They do, and it’s affecting photosynthesis 😅
Yaaaaaaaaay
Crazy how different people react differently to things, I don’t chew gum often but I did try it again when I started controlling my diet and for me it just seems to activate my hunger, like my brain thinks “I’m chewing something, time to prepare the stomach for receiving food!”.
I understand that. In this case of course I have just eaten dinner which probably subverts that.
Do you have any shabiri grapes?
What about toothbrushes?
you have to worry how abrasive some are.
I just pulled this out from my ass, but I would guess yes, they do. But you rinse your mouth after brushing your teeth so I would guess it’s not that bad? Since you’re (mostly) not ingesting the microplastic particles from the toothbrush. But again I’m going off of nothing.
Current advice is actually to not rinse after brushing, as you’re meant to let the fluoride of the toothpaste sit against your teeth for thirty minutes.
Unfortunately, I would recommend not losing sleep over either source of microplastics (chewing gum or toothbrushes), until tires and synthetic clothing are done away with by society. Those are much MUCH bigger, inescapable sources of microplastics
Why tires? Pls explain?
Because that’s what tires are made out of, and they wear away as you drive (that’s why you need to replace tires every so often as the treads wear away). That material doesn’t just disappear, it gets ground down and dispersed into the environment as they’re used.
It’s one reason why electric cars aren’t a great solution for anyone but car manufacturers—the tires. They’ll cut down on fossil fuel use and fuel emissions, yes, but that’s not the only way cars pollute.
EDIT: Also, thank you for asking! Always happy to explain :)
Isn’t it mostly tires? Which is just another reason humanity has to be cured of this insane car-craziness.
Tires are there biggest ones, yeah, but number two is shedding from synthetic clothing creation and laundering
I think micro plastics are in all the water everywhere.
We’re talking about their major sources, not where they’re now consequently found
yea i heard that trick too, unfortunately it can cause perioral dermatitis in people, especially some toothpastes. because it tends to seep out of your lips and sits in the corner irritating the lips.
Instructions unclear, pulled toothbrush out of ass.
Are you a sea cucumber?
So awesome
/s
good thing i stopped using chewing gum ages ago, always chewed it way too long and it turned disgusting.
