Plastic is a big menace, today, not only for our environment, but also for birds, cattle animals & aquatic life; And, the most starking fact, today, is micro and nanoplastic particles becoming a big threat to humans’ health. In my earlier article, I had talked about documented evidences about presence of microplastic fibres in commercial fishes in a number of lakes and rivers of India as well as in Jammu and Kashmir.
Now, more serious findings about presence of micro and nanoplastic particles entering human bodies including blood vessels and human brain, by a number of scientific groups accross the world, have shivered the spines of health experts. Microplastics and nano Plastics are in human bodies; Causing serious health problems entering human blood, cause for menstrual problems, infertility among men, even entering human brain becoming cause for paralytic attacks!
A comprehensive review based on cellular and molecular effects by
Mohammad Karimian and Sahar Yaqubi
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran hghlights the Microplastics influence on reproductive health by affecting vital processes such as gametogenesis; Specifically, in men, microplastics can negatively affect testicular structure and function; Microplastics accelerate aging, trigger inflammation, and provoke oxidative stress in the testes.
In a similar type of study by Katia Savchuk from Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems on
Microplastics and our health, it was concluded that, “Microplastics are in the water we drink, the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the air we breathe. They’ve pervaded every ecosystem in the world, from coral reefs to Antarctic ice. And they’ve infiltrated the human body, lodging themselves in everything from brain tissue to reproductive organs.”
Microplastics — plastic fragments up to 5 millimeters long — are inescapable. An estimated 10 to 40 million metric tons of these particles are released into the environment every year, and if the current trends continue, that number could double by 2040.
Plastic commercialization began with the Second World War and grew all over the world within less than a century. The global annual production of plastic is more than 359 million tons. Despite all the benefits, plastics cause severe environmental and public health issues.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), single-use plastics represent 36 per cent of global plastic production, of which an estimated 85 per cent is mismanaged.
Plastics can degrade into micro to nano sizes, and those fine particles are more spreadable in air, water, and soil. Therefore, both terrestrial and aquatic animals go through various negative impacts such as ingestion, entangling, ulcers, low reproduction, and oxidative stress.
Most come from larger plastic items that break down over time, while some are added directly to products we use such as plastic water bottles, tea bags, toothbrush, paints, plastic films on sweet boxes & cigrette packets, cleansers and toothpastes.
“Plastic never goes away; It stays in environment between 500 to 1000 years— it just breaks down into finer and finer particles,” said Desiree LaBeaud, MD, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Stanford Medicine who co-founded the university’s interdisciplinary Plastics and Health Working Group. The microplastic particles have been found in multiple organs and tissues, including the brain, testicles, heart, stomach, lymph nodes and placenta. They’ve also been detected in urine, breastmilk, semen and meconium, which is a newborn’s first stool. “We’re born pre-polluted,” LaBeaud said.
Microplastics also degrade human health due to cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, birth defects, cancer, etc.
A recent large-scale review of existing research by scholars at the University of California, San Francisco, concluded that exposure to microplastics is suspected to harm reproductive, digestive and respiratory health and suggested a link to colon and lung cancer.
Public concerns over the health effects of microplastics are growing. In the past year alone, headlines have sounded the alarm about particles in tea bags, seafood, meat and bottled drinking water. Scientists have estimated that adults ingest the equivalent of one credit card per week in microplastics. Studies in animals and human cells suggest microplastics exposure could be linked to cancer, heart attacks, reproductive problems and a host of other harms.
While avoiding microplastics is impossible, experts at Stanford Medicine point out that individuals can take steps to reduce their exposure. Addressing the problem on a broader scale will require action from industry leaders and policymakers, they say.
Another study, “Finding gaps and solutions to combat microplastic pollution” By scientific researchers
Vaishali Bhatt,
Ashish Bahuguna,
Tirthankar Banerjee,
Jaspal Singh Chauhan from a number of Universities in India speaks,
“Once released into the environment, plastics degrade into microplastics (<5 mm) and nanoplastics, entering terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems through air transport, surface water runoff, and wastewater effluents. Microplastics originate either as primary plastics, intentionally manufactured at microscopic sizes (e.g., microbeads and industrial pellets), or as secondary plastics, formed through fragmentation of larger plastic debris. These small particles may release toxic chemicals and act as adsorbents for heavy metals and toxic chemicals in the environment, thereby posing potential ecological and human health risks. These particles may also be ingested by organisms with the potential for bioaccumulation and trophic transfer”. Increasing scientific evidence of these impacts has intensified global concern, prompting a surge in national and international policy initiatives aimed at addressing plastic pollution.
In 2022, UN Member States agreed on a resolution to end plastic pollution.
While this progress is good news, current commitments by governments and industry are not enough. To effectively tackle the plastic pollution crisis, systemic change is needed. This means, moving away from the current linear plastic economy, which centres on producing, using and discarding the material, to a circular plastic economy, where the plastic that is produced is kept in the economy at its highest value for as long as possible.
The agenda of banning single-use plastic items is a high priority for the Government of India. In his Independence Day speech in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for India to become free of single-use plastics. Again, in 2025, on the occasion of World Environment Day, the Prime Minister reiterated: “We are resolute in our efforts to reduce single-use plastic and microplastic pollution for sustainable development.”
Countries, accross the globe, need to encourage innovation and provide incentives to businesses that do away with unnecessary plastics. Taxes are needed to deter the production or use of single-use plastic products, while tax breaks, subsidies and other fiscal incentives need to be introduced to encourage alternatives, such as reusable products. Waste management infrastructure must also be improved. While the plastic pollution crisis needs systemic reform, individual choices do make a difference. Such as shifting behaviour to avoid single-use plastic products whenever possible. Small changes like travellers carrying purified water in own bottles made up of steel, glass or earthen material; Hotels, restaurants and banquet halls serving purified water in glasswares, instead of using plastic water bottles; installation of purified water fountains and water ATMs at small distances, governments imposing bans on use of plastic crockery, spoons, bowls, plastic water bottles in all government offices and in all government functions, replacing plastic milk pouches with reusable glass milk bottles as per past practices, a strong enforcement on use of thin quality of polythene bags in busy market areas and sweets vendors openly using plastic films to cover sweets boxes etc., grants and subsidies for industrial units manufacturing biodegradable alternatives shall bring about the much desired changes.
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