Please note: This transcript is not 100% accurate.
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Since the 1950s, we have produced over eight billion metric tons of plastic.
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This is Dr. Meenal and welcome to Uncover Your Eyes, where we break down the most pressing health topics shaping lives today. Before we start, only 69 % of you are following or subscribed to the show. If you can please hit that follow, subscribe button that will really help us to bring you better episodes weekly. Today, we are going to dive deep into a problem that is smaller than a grain of sand.
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but more dangerous than an oil spill. Microplastics. Microplastics are particles that are smaller than five millimeters, but super dangerous. And we are now coming out with a lot of studies and information on the dangers of microplastics and how they have flooded our entire world. These microplastics have been found in soil, water, air, food, rivers, oceans, and
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even our bodies. Some of these plastics are a result of larger plastics breaking down over time, and some are intentionally small, like the microbeads found in skincare products. Or in synthetic fibers, we have these small particles that are in nylon polyester and shed in things like our washing machines. Humans are consuming 50,000 to 120,000 microplastic particles per year.
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These particles are even found in drinking water. And just an FYI, bottled water has two times as much microplastics as tap water, but they both have microplastics. It is starting to get very scary that we are finding these microplastics in our bodies, our blood, our lungs, and even placenta. A 2023 study showed that microplastics were found in a lot of the cardiac tissue or heart tissue.
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during cardiac surgery of patients. That is so scary that it has infiltrated our body and penetrated it that deep. These microplastics are everywhere in our body now. Some studies are starting to even come out talking about how microplastics are causing oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, and inflammation in our bodies. So how did we get here? How did we get here with the microplastics? To be honest,
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I was always wondering why we were banning the plastic bags at grocery stores and the plastic straws. Those were so convenient for me. But after diving deep into learning more about microplastics, I’m all for it. I am starting to actually consciously think about the environment a little bit more than I was before. Plastics really consumed our industry starting in the 1950s and everything became plastic, whether it was part of a
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electronics, whether it was plastic bags, plastic straws, everything was plastic and they consumed our industry. And that’s what we’ve been using since then. Since the 1950s, we have produced over 8 billion metric tons of plastic. The problem is not the producing of the plastic. The problem is the disposing of it. So the waste management. So unless the plastics have been managed properly,
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during the waste process, they’re turning and breaking down into smaller microplastics. And this is what is flooding our bodies. And we find these particles in, for example, areas of the ocean, the rivers, and then our animals, our sea animals, our fishes are consuming these products. And then we are eating them. Animals like fish actually think that these particles are food. And so when they consume it,
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and then we consume them, we are ingesting a lot of plastic. Let’s talk about something as simple as our washing machine. We have our washing machine, we wash our synthetic fiber clothing, like polyester, nylon. During the washing process, they are shedding these microfibers, these microplastics that are going into our wastewater system. And because they’re not broken down properly, they are then going into the
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water system, our oceans, our rivers, and again, that whole cycle starts. This is dangerous. These plastics are being found in our body. They’re contributing to inflammation. We’re talking about neurodegenerative diseases. We are talking about them being found in the placenta. So babies are exposed to these microplastics even before they are born. We don’t know where we’re headed, but we do know that studies are coming out on these microplastics and we know that we have to stop the production or better
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waste management of these plastics. Here is what I am worried about. So we are ingesting these products, whether it’s through fruits, know, vegetables, animals, we are consuming these products or even water, bottled water, tap water, and we are consuming them on a day to day basis. So what I am worried about is these plastics are going to be causing gut inflammation. So gut inflammation is going to go up.
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and that is affecting our enteric nervous system, which is our gut to our brain connection. I’m worried about the harmful chemicals in these plastics like the phthalates, the BPAs. They can be hormone disruptors, cause reproductive issues. They are just toxic overall. These toxins are all eventually going to enter our bloodstream and go to various areas of our bodies and cause certain concerns. So the consumption of these products is a big thing that we have to look at because they are everywhere in all of our foods.
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The second route that we’re getting these is inhalation. So we are, it’s in the air, we are breathing it in. Sources of how it’s getting in the air is from indoor dust, our synthetic clothing, our tires, industrial emissions. We are getting all of this into the air and then we’re just breathing it in. So what does that mean? It’s directly affecting our lungs. And that’s where also microplastics have been found leading to inflammatory conditions of the lungs, respiratory diseases.
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And hey, maybe that’s why asthma is on the rise. I don’t know, but I’m just saying. Then we absorb it through our skin. So that’s the third way we can ingest it. We can inhale these products or we can absorb them through our skin from products like our lotions, our toothpaste, our exfoliants. And sometimes these microplastics found in them are smaller than even the regular microplastics. And they’re so small that usually your skin acts like a barrier.
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but they can actually penetrate through the skin if they are that small and found in these products. And eventually they will start affecting the cells of our body once they’re absorbed through the skin. So not only am I worried about these three routes of, you know, absorption. So I want to say absorbing, inhaling and ingesting. We are also worried about obviously the side effects of it, which are hormone disruption, increased fertility issue, gut inflammation,
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overall health concerns, asthma, eczema, maybe it’s causing skin concerns that we don’t know about. Um, inflammatory conditions are on the rise. So we are worried about all of these things plus increase in oxidative stress. And we are starting to think that maybe increased absorption of these microplastics is, could be a cause of things like cancer, major neurodegenerative diseases, just chronic diseases overall. So what
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can we do as a society, as a community? Well, first of all, mean, like I said before, I wasn’t a fan of not using plastic straws or not getting bags when I went to the grocery store, but start using your reusable bags. Do your part, dispose of your plastics as you should be in your community and such that the waste removal process is much better.
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and start using reusable items rather than all these plastic items. That would be our first step in society is just reducing the plastic use. Clothing, you can start going for more organic cotton or just cotton clothing versus synthetic fibers. In terms of our washing machines and things like that, you can start using microplastic filters to help the plastics go into our waste management system.
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And obviously just supporting, you know, the bands on the plastics and encouraging our community and our leaders and our governments to stop the use of a lot of plastic products where they can be replaced by reusables. So if we collectively change our habits, we can reduce these microplastics that are infiltrating our bodies and polluting our bodies. If you found this episode eye-opening, share it with a friend.
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And let’s keep the conversation going and think about what you have your eyes on next. Stay curious, stay informed and take action. Thank you listeners and viewers for tuning in. If you want to catch more episodes of Uncover Your Eyes, make sure to follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and on YouTube. To learn more about me, follow me on Instagram @Dr.MeenalAgarwal Until next time, keep those eyes uncovered!