What goes around comes around.

topic of the day 037

Microplastic in Salt

Two fragments of blue microplastic surrounded by diatom phytoplankton (seen under a microscope) after being collected from the sea in a fine mesh trawl net. Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

What?

"Sea salt around the world has been contaminated by plastic pollution, adding to experts’ fears that microplastics are becoming ubiquitous in the environment and finding their way into the food chain via the salt in our diets.

Who? How?

"Researchers believe the majority of the contamination comes from microfibres and single-use plastics such as water bottles, items that comprise the majority of plastic waste. Up to 12.7m tonnes of plastic enters the world’s oceans every year, equivalent to dumping one garbage truck of plastic per minute into the world’s oceans, according to the United Nations.

"The health impact of ingesting plastic is not known. Scientists have struggled to research the impact of plastic on then human body, because they cannot find a control group of humans who have not been exposed."

Why?

"Mason found Americans could be ingesting upwards of 660 particles of plastic each year, if they follow health officials’ advice to eat 2.3 grammes of salt per day. However, most Americans could be ingesting far more, as health officials believe 90% of Americans eat too much salt.
Everybody is being exposed to some degree at any given time, from gestation through death, researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Arizona State University wrote in 2013. Detectable levels of [the plastic] bisphenol A have been found in the urine of 95% of the adult population of the United States.

Then?

"The research also comes after a Guardian analysis found 1m plastic bottles are purchased per minute, and that recycling efforts are failing to keep pace with production, which is expected to quadruple by 2050. Some environmentalists have said the threat of plastic pollution now rivals climate change."

If you are still unsure of the effects of recycling, it's too late! Plastic products that were thrown out indiscriminately especially plastic bottles are not being broken down like any other organic materials and in their smallest version made their way back into our life in among the sea salts and eventually into our own body. We don't even know the effects of consuming these plastics because almost everyone is exposed to it already and we can't do a proper study because of there is no control group! 

So?
Let's be hopeful that whatever effect they may have to our health, it will be minute hopefully. It is unfortunate that it was the carelessness of the few that is going to affect people all around the world that is using sea salts. It might be too late to not be exposed to these micro fragments of plastic, but it is not too late to still do something about it. Use table or mined salts instead of sea salts. Do not buy bottled waters and keep encouraging these companies to keep making them. RECYCLE! Please do not throw away your plastics into the ocean because you now know it's going to come back and haunt you ... you are educated now. If you know better, why would you go against what you know best?

Lesson Learned:

The ignorance of the few now has caused all of us possibly in the shape of our health. Now knowing better, do your best to prevent it from happening again.

source: reddit