Albuquerque, New Mexico – Dr. Matt Capen is studying the health effects of environmental pollutants. His laboratory at the University of New Mexico has for the first time Plastics found in the human brain fabric.
He says his research believes that the amount of plastic in the brain could be roughly equal to the size of a plastic spoon.
“It’s a lot,” explains Camsen at CBS News. “… The fact that it worsens over time is really the problem.”
Scientists believe that these microscopic particles, called nanoplasticsCome from all the plastics that people use and throw. When plastic breaks down over time, it ends in the food supply, the water we drink and even the air that we breathe.
A study last month In the Journal of the American Heart Association notes that people living near the oceans in nanoplastic pollute are more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cerebral vascular accidents compared to those who lived near waters that have low nanoplastic levels.
The Campen laboratory found more plastic in the brain of people with dementia than those without dementia.
Now, research on these nanoplastics leaves the laboratory and in long -term clinical studies.
“We now have more evidence of the effects of plastic on chronic illnesses of children than we do on food coloring,” said Dr. Leonardo Trasande, professor of pediatrics at the Grossman School of Medicine of New York University. “And if we use the same standard of evidence, we should act as fiercely on plastics in the food supply that we are on food dyes.”
TRASANDE follows the impact of plastics on more than 64,000 children, from pregnancy to adolescence, including on Jack Glaser, 8 years old.
“The amount of information they collect is remarkable,” said Glaser’s mother Tammy Fried-Glaser. “They did cognitive studies on Jack, you know, size and weight and ultrasound, and beyond.”
So far, TRASANDE research Linked plastics to health problems such as hormonal problems with fertility, premature birth, cognitive abnormalities and cardiovascular disease.
“Literally, the particle is a problem – because it is a foreign body in a fabric,” said Trasande. “This could rid the mucosa of the coronary artery, contributing to clogging … These are toxic drug delivery systems.”
Although the details are still emerging, experts are suitable that less plastic is the way to follow.
