Why India should be concerned about microplastics

It's about the size of a grain of sand. Microplastics, smaller than 5 millimeters (mm), enter us through the air we breathe, the food we eat, and even our skin.

They are manufactured in their size for industrial and commercial use, such as pellets and personal care products, or are the result of the degradation of macroplastics (5 mm or larger). Studies (such as here and here ) show that they are ubiquitous everywhere and in everything.

“Plastic debris already pollutes the Earth, from the poles to the equator, from the highest mountains to the deepest oceans. More than 1,300 species ingest or become entangled in plastic debris. “This is known to be the case, and associated hazards have been reported from the base of the food chain to the apex predators,” Richard C. Thompson told IndiaSpend in an email. Mr. Thompson is Director of the Marine Research Institute, School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, UK.

In September 2024, Thompson and his colleagues released a comprehensive report. review About microplastics in the journal science. In their paper, they estimate that between 10 million and 40 million tons of microplastics enter the environment each year. By the way, 1 million tons is 100 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower. On the current trajectory, this amount could double by 2040.

Speaking about the harm caused by plastic debris infiltrating our bodies and the environment, Thompson said: “Large-scale harm from large debris has already been seen, and predictions indicate that harm associated with microplastics will have far-reaching ecological impacts in the future.”

He added that once microplastics enter the environment, they are almost impossible to remove. They will last and continue to have an impact.

as negotiation As the signing of a global plastic pollution treaty progresses in Busan, South Korea, we explain how microplastics need to be urgently addressed to avoid serious damage to the environment and human life.

“Emerging Contaminants of Concern”

Microplastics are part of the emerging contaminants of concern, or CECs. This is a term used to refer to chemicals and substances that are relatively new in the environment, or that have been present in the environment for some time but are only now being recognized as potentially problematic. explains Oliver Jones. He is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

In an email conversation, Jones elaborated on CECs, saying they are typically unregulated and the risks to human and environmental health are not well understood.

Examples include pharmaceuticals, personal care products, micro- and nanoplastics, nanoparticles, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and more.

Over the past two decades, research has focused on the environmental accumulation of microplastics on the coast, in the deep sea, underwater, in sea ice, and in organisms ranging from invertebrates at the base of food webs to apex predators, according to a review paper. It is said that ; in rivers, lakes and streams; In the soil. in the atmosphere. Even at the top of Everest.

“It is now clear that microplastics are contaminating multiple environments globally,” the paper says.

The latest research also sheds light on the sources of microplastics, their movement and movement, their accumulation in the environment, and how they change as they move between ecosystems.

This scientific framework is micro plastic cycle. Estimating flux, the movement of microplastics throughout ecosystems, is a key element of this framework, which integrates environmental chemistry, biology, and human health.

India has launched a project to assess the extent of the microplastic crisis.

According to August 2024 press notesthe Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has initiated a project to analyze micro and nanoplastics, conduct comparative studies between laboratories and develop standard protocols to assess consumer exposure levels. .

According to the memo, India-specific data on the prevalence of microplastics in various food products will help “understand the extent of microplastic contamination in Indian food products and help develop effective regulations and safety standards to protect public health.” It's helpful.''

IndiaSpend has written to Amit Sharma, director of FSSAI's science and standards department, regarding the status of the project. We will update this story once we receive a response.

Microplastics in our daily life and their impact on health

Microplastics are deeply ingrained in our daily lives. Cosmetics, shaving cream, food, water bottles, and even asthma inhalers are full of microplastics. They also come from large plastics that break down due to temperature, rain, and other elements, and we inhale or ingest them.

For example, Toxics Link, an environmental research and advocacy group, recently investigated the extent of microplastics in salt and sugar in India. This result study It shows that salt and sugar available in the Indian market intended for human consumption are contaminated with microplastics.

“The contamination was not related to the brand of salt or sugar. In particular, we found that iodized salt, the most widely used salt in India, contained significantly higher concentrations of microplastics.” Satish Sinha, Associate Director at Link, told IndiaSpend.

The particles, he says, “are different in size, color, shape, and have different types of resin.”

Changes in size, even if small, are significant. The study found that small microplastics between 0.1-0.3 mm and 0.3-1 mm were more prevalent than larger microplastics between 1 and 5 mm.

“These small sizes pose great challenges for removal from the environment and increase the likelihood of ingestion by humans and other organisms. Consistent with broader research, fibers are among the most microplastics found. It was identified as a common shape,” Sinha said.

Although considerable research has been conducted on microplastics in water, soil, and air, there remains a critical need to analyze the presence of microplastics in consumables, especially common items such as salt and sugar. He says there is.

“Our research aims to enable researchers to detect microplastics in a wide range of edible products and to increase public awareness of the prevalence and potential impact of microplastics.”

Indian sea salt contains microplastic fibers and fragments of various sizes.

He further added that food chain contamination by microplastics is serious and could have wide-ranging impacts on humanity, as plastics use a variety of chemicals and their toxicity is well-studied and proven. He added that there is. “Many of these chemicals are known to be endocrine disrupting, carcinogenic, and neurotoxic.”

2018 article Paper by researchers from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay published in magazine Environmental science and pollution researchIndian sea salt was found to be high in microplastic fibers and debris of various sizes.

In the 2023 review paper in diary Regional research in marine scienceThe authors reviewed 45 papers published between 2013 and 2020 on the prevalence and types of microplastics in Indian oceans. They say that “marine sediments have higher concentrations of MPs than sea salts, biota, or seawater.” Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) form the majority of microplastics in water-rich environments.

Microplastics are piling up like sin. 2023 Review paper Paper by IIT Madras researchers published in journal Environmental science and pollution researchstates that homes themselves are a major source of microplastic pollution.

Wastewater contains so many microplastics that they end up contaminating our oceans. The authors acknowledge this, but point to microplastic pollution from the use of personal care products, laundry, face masks, and more.

A 2024 paper found that when zebrafish were exposed to polyisobutylene microplastic (PIB-MP) synthesized in the lab, the cells died and the fish became deformed. article Magazine publication by researchers at Indian Institute of Science nature.

The damage is deep and widespread. “Zebrafish larvae exposed to various concentrations of PIB-MP showed a number of symptoms, including delayed hatching, impaired swimming behavior, increased levels of reactive oxygen species, and altered mRNA levels of genes encoding antioxidant proteins. The results showed that PIB-MP accumulated in the intestines of larval and adult fish within 7 to 21 days, causing damage to the intestinal mucosa. It became clear.”

It says chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, and brominated flame retardants are used in the production of plastics and are endocrine disruptors that can harm human health if ingested or inhaled. is. review paper.

another sstudy Researchers at Columbia University found an average of 240,000 particles in every liter of bottled water. The samples they analyzed were from the United States. Microplastics typically range in size from 1 micrometer to 5 millimeters. Anything smaller than 1 micrometer is nanoplastic.

Research has discovered traces of microplastics. breast milkin bloodin lung airway And then lung tissue. They are also penis, uterus, placenta–Even among them heart and in that brain. they can cross borders blood brain barrier Through the sense of smell and blood vessels. They are intestineleads to acute inflammation and irritable bowel disease (IBD).

Their health impact, according to August 2023 paperconsisting of oxidative stress, DNA damage, organ dysfunction, metabolic disorders, immune responses, neurotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity. Additionally, the paper states that epidemiological evidence suggests that a variety of chronic diseases may be associated with exposure to microplastics.

According to this September 2022 paperthey can cause cancer. So far, it has been observed that nanoplastics and microplastics are highly harmful and can cause serious health conditions such as cancer in various systems of the human body.

The problem of microplastics seems insurmountable. How do we flush them out of the environment and our bodies?

As far as their research is concerned, Jones says the field of microplastics research needs standardized methods and approaches to ensure the data is of high quality, reproducible and useful. Additionally, he suggests that you can reduce your exposure by avoiding plastic bottles and food packaging, as well as using hard floors instead of carpets and vacuuming regularly.

We are consumers of plastic. Now, plastic is eating away at us, our organs, tissues, and cells.

This article first published above spend india.