PLASTICS AND THEIR ADDITIVES REACHED THE BLOOD AND TISSUE SPACES: WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES?

Abstract

Microplastics, the tiny plastic particles are either manufactured for definite purposes or develop as the fragmented part of larger plastic materials. These can reach everywhere on the surface of our planet to do various detrimental impacts on humans and animals living on the land and in the sea, directly or after entering the food chain; on the overall biosphere as well as on the total environment by staying at a non-biodegradable state for centuries. The study of various health effects of microplastics is a comparatively new subject and different aspects of serious to very serious impacts of microplastics and their additives on health are becoming clear by such research. It is known that microplastics have already reached the tissues and become a reason for the death of fish and other edible or non-edible lives in the sea and water bodies. Possible effects of microplastics and their additive chemicals can be assumed from some experimental studies and the logical correlation of reports of such studies with the direct observations of the health status of living human beings. Recently it has been reported that microplastics and their additives already reached human blood and the placenta. Possible impacts of these chemicals on the endocrine system, their role in initiation and progression of different chronic diseases including cancers, effect on the brain, overall nervous system, and related behavioral changes as well as on the important organs of the body, like the liver, etc. are discussed in the light of published literature with an effort to search out the possible ways to reduce the load of microplastics and their additives inside our body to combat the incoming massacre.

Keywords

• microplastics
• additives
• endocrine system
• cancers
• blood
• placenta
• health impacts