Baby poop contains microplastics

All in all, the PET concentration of infants was 10 times higher than that of adults, and the polycarbonate levels were more uniform between the two groups. Researchers found a small amount of the two polymers in meconium, which indicates that the baby’s body already contains plastic at birth.This echoes the previous research Microplastics in human placenta And meconium.

What all this means for human health — and more importantly, what it means for infant health — scientists are now scrambling to find answers. According to a study, different types of plastics may contain any of at least 10,000 different chemical substances, of which a quarter is of concern. Recent studies Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. These additives can be used for various plastic manufacturing purposes, such as providing flexibility, additional strength or preventing UV bombardment, which can degrade the material.Microplastics may contain heavy metals such as lead, but they also tend to accumulation Heavy metals and other pollutants are tumbling in the environment.They are also easy to grow microbial communities composed of viruses, bacteria and fungi, many of which are Human pathogens.

Of particular concern is a class of chemicals called endocrine disrupting chemicals or EDC, which interfere with hormones and are related to reproductive, neurological and metabolic problems, such as increased obesity. The notorious plastic ingredient bisphenol A or BPA is a kind of EDC related to EDC. Various cancers.

“We should be worried because EDC in microplastics has been shown to be related to several adverse results in human and animal studies,” said Jodi Flaws, a reproductive toxicologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who leads 2020 Learn From the Endocrine Society about plastics. (She was not involved in this new study.) “Some microplastics contain chemicals that interfere with the normal function of the endocrine system.”

Babies are particularly susceptible to the effects of EDC because their physical development depends on a healthy endocrine system. “I firmly believe that these chemicals do affect the early stages of life,” Kannan said. “That was a fragile period.”

This new study adds more and more evidence that babies are highly exposed to microplastics. “This is a very interesting paper with some very worrying numbers,” said Deonie Allen, a microplastics researcher at the University of Strathclyde who was not involved in the study. “We need to look at everything that children come into contact with, not just their bottles and toys.”

Because babies excrete microplastics in their feces, this means that the intestines may absorb some particles, just as they absorb nutrients from food. This is called translocation: extremely small particles may pass through the intestinal wall and eventually enter other organs, including the brain.Researchers have actually Proved it Feeding the carp with plastic pellets, the plastic pellets are transferred to the head through the intestine, where they cause brain damage, which manifests as behavioral problems: Compared with control fish, individuals with plastic pellets in the brain are less active and eat more slowly.

But this is done with very high concentrations of particles, and in a completely different species. Although scientists know that EDCs are bad news, they still don’t know to what extent microplastics can cause problems in the human body. “We need more research to confirm the dosage and type of chemicals in microplastics that cause undesirable consequences,” Frost said.

At the same time, microplastics researchers said that you can limit children’s contact with particles. Do not use hot water in a plastic bottle to prepare infant formula-use a glass bottle and transfer the liquid to a plastic bottle after it reaches room temperature. Vacuum and sweep to keep the floor free of microfibers. Avoid using plastic wrappers and containers as much as possible. Microplastics have contaminated all aspects of our lives, so although you can never get rid of them, at least you can reduce your family’s contact.

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