Kim Bellard
Vaccine experts are responding to RFK JR’s attack on vaccine safety. Health insurance companies promise – honesty… this time – to make prior authorization less arduous responsibility (though certainly not to eliminate them). Chatgpt and other LLMs may make us worse when it comes to learning. So much to write about, but I found myself wanting to return to a topic that is now familiar: microplastics.
I first wrote about microplastics in 2020, and the subsequent discovery made me introduce their dangers again at least every year. Now, there are new discoveries, no, this news is still bad.
A new study, researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Water Science and Technology (EAWAG) and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, researchers from the Food Packaging Forum NPJ Food Science 103 previous studies on food packaging and “Food Contact Items (FCA)” were reviewed to conduct microplastics (MNPs) in our food. They found that even normal uses, such as opening plastic bottles, soaking plastic tea bags, or chopping them on plastic cutting boards, can contaminate food.
“This is the first systematic evidence graph to investigate the role of food contact articles in normal and expected use of food contaminated with MNP.” Food Packaging Forum. “Food contact items are a relevant source of MNP in food; however, they contribute inadequately to human MNP exposure.”
The data they collect is freely accessible through the FCMINO dashboard. This data allows users to filter the included data through the type of FCA, the main food contact material, the media analyzed, and whether MNP is detected, and whether MNP is detected, and for their size and polymer type.
Remove plastic from grocery purchases may be contaminated with microplastics, just like soaking tea bags. Simply opening jars or bottles of milk can as well, and repeated opening and closing of either glass or plastic bottles sheds “untold amounts” of micro- and nanoplastics into the beverage, according to Dr. Zimmerman, who further noted: “The research shows the number of microplastics increases with each bottle opening, so therefore we can say it’s the usage of the food contact article which leads to micro- and nanoplastic release,”
Dr. Zimmermann told Washington Post: “Plastic is everywhere. We need to know what we can do.” Examples she suggests we can try include avoiding storing food in plastic where possible and avoiding heating plastic containers. However, she admits: “We don’t really understand all the factors that can lead to the release of micro and nanoplastics.”
Dr. Jane Muncke, managing director and chief scientific officer of the Food Packaging Forum, warns that ultra-popular foods have greater risk of contamination: “The higher manufacturing steps using ultra-popular foods can increase contact time with plastic foods and thus increase the chances of micro and nanoopration and Nananoption.
Dr. Muncke believes that their research is a step in the right direction:
The system’s evidence graph helps fill gaps in knowledge about the source of MNPs in foods. However, this also suggests that additional studies are needed to better characterize MNP migration associated with FCA materials and uses. It is important that the implementation of a unified testing and reporting framework is key to ensuring reliable and comparable data that can inform future policy decisions.
David Andrews, acting chief science officer of the Environmental Working Group, told CNN:: “This new study highlights that food packaging and processing equipment is a potentially important source of food we eat and the micro-contamination that ultimately exists in our bodies. This study should raise a wake-up call.”
It should indeed be.
This is another study that shows that our expectations about microplastic risk are not always effective. Researchers at French national food company ANSES found that beverages sold in glass bottles actually have More The microplastics in them are more microplastics in plastic bottles. Glass bottles, cola, lemonade, iced tea and beer have five times the amount of pellets, five times the amount of plastic bottles or cans.
“When we compared the microplastic levels in different beverages sold in France, we expected the opposite results,” said Iseline Chaib, a doctoral student who conducted the study. The hat on the bottle proved to be the problem. Ms. Chaib explained: “We then noticed that in the glass, the particles that appear from the sample have the same shape, color and polymer composition – thus, the same paint as the outside of the lid that seals the glass bottle.”
Remember Dr. Zimmerman warned about what is the danger of repeatedly opening and closing bottles?
The team advises manufacturers to use a cleaning method that blows air into the hat and rises with water and alcohol, which can reduce contaminants by 60%. It is also recommended that consumers rinse the cap and then reopen it.
Last but not least, a paper by Isabella Tuzzio, an undergraduate biology student at West Virginia University, tested the presence of microplastics from fish in streams in central Appalachia and found them in each sampled fish. Each fish has an average of 40 pieces of microplastic.
The conclusion of this paper is: “In general, we conclude that microplastic pollution exists in freshwater ecosystems in the three major watersheds (Monongahela, Cheat and Ohio Watersheds) and is widely present in freshwater ecosystems in the Appalachian region, and that potential sources of agricultural pollution indicate potential pollutants of agricultural pollution, and a comprehensive atmosphere.
“Microplastics come from daily sources, such as synthetic fibers in laundry and synthetic fibers from plastic beads,” Ms. Tuzzio said. “They are everywhere now, from our streams to remote deserts, and even humans.”
She thinks we should worry:
These plastics are small, but they have a great impact. They carry pollutants, heavy metals and antibiotics. When microplastics are scattered among smaller fish, larger fish eat those smaller ones. These plastic levels are high when you go to work along the food chain. This is also a problem for them and us.
I am anxious. We know that microplastics are everywhere from the bottom of the sea to the top of the atmosphere and anywhere in between. We know they are in our entire food system and in our entire body. We don’t have enough data to understand exactly the health risks of all these exposures, but we have enough evidence to show that it’s not good.
I would grant RFK JR a microplastic on radar, but I definitely hope he can move it before destroying trust in vaccines or removing food dyes.
Kim is the former emarketing Exec of the main blues program, late editor and regret tinture.ionow regular THCB contributor
