How do Plastics get into my Body ?

How do Plastics get into my Body ?

Young woman, face wrapped in wet cellophane - depositphotos.com

1. What size are we talking about?
2. You eat it
3. You drink it
4. You breathe it
5. Through your skin
6. Where it hides in your home
7. Summary

1. What size are we talking about?

   Microplastics are pieces smaller than 5 millimetres, down to about a thousandth of a millimetre. Nanoplastics are smaller again, and small enough to pass through the wall of the gut and the lung.[1][2] The smaller the particle, the further into the body it can travel.[3]

2. You eat it

   Anything that lived in the sea has been filtering plastic out of the water, and shellfish, eaten whole, carry the most. Sea salt is evaporated sea water. Crops grow in soil that has plastic in it. Then the food is wrapped, tinned, bagged and cut on plastic before it reaches your mouth.

3. You drink it

   Bottled water generally carries more plastic than tap water, because the bottle and the cap shed into the water they hold.[4] Tap water carries it too, at lower levels, because treatment does not remove all of it.[5] Anything hot in a plastic or plastic-lined container releases more than anything cold.

4. You breathe it

   Indoors, most of the plastic in the air is fibre from clothing, carpet, curtains and furniture made of polyester, nylon and acrylic, and house dust is largely made of it.[6] Outdoors, the biggest single source is tyres, which wear down to nothing over their life and leave it on the road and in the air beside it.[7]

5. Through your skin

   Intact skin stops most particles. The concern is what is deliberately put on it, and what is deliberately put into the nose, eyes and lungs by sprays, drops and inhalers. Microbeads have been banned in New Zealand,[8] but plastic in other forms is still common in personal care products.

6. Where it hides in your home

   The general rule : plastic sheds when it is rubbed, heated, flexed or old. Look around each room for the things that get one of those every day.

   In the Kitchen

   • Chopping boards – every cut takes a sliver off the board and puts it in the food.[9]
   • Salt and pepper grinders – some cheap grinders have plastic teeth, and every turn wears them into your food. Nylon teeth wear the fastest.[10] Look for ceramic or steel.
   • Plastic blender jugs – thirty seconds of blending is enough to grind plastic off the inside of the jug and into the drink.[11]
   • Plastic graters and peelers – hard vegetables dragged across plastic, and whatever wears off goes in with them.
   • Plastic bottles – every time you unscrew the lid, the thread grinds flakes into the drink.
   • Glass bottles – no escape : the paint on the metal cap gets scratched, and soft drinks and beer in glass carry more plastic than those in plastic bottles.[12]
   • Storage containers, dishes, cutlery – scratched, dishwashed and reheated for years; the scratches are where the plastic went.
   • Clingfilm and bags – thin, stretched and pressed against the food, warm or cold.
   • Opening packets – cutting with scissors or tearing by hand leaves plastic fibres along the edge, right beside the food.[13]
   • Plastic-coated tins and jars – the lining that stops the metal tasting is a film of plastic.
   • Tin openers – the wheel cuts through that plastic lining, right above the food.
   • Tea bags – most are heat-sealed with plastic, then you pour boiling water on them.[14]
   • Coffee pods and takeaway cups – the cup that does not leak is lined with plastic, and the coffee is hot.
   • Non-stick pans – the coating is plastic, and it wears off into the food as it ages.
   • Nylon spoons and spatulas – hot food draws the building blocks of the nylon out of them. Do not leave them standing in the pot.[15]
   • Plastic kettles and jugs – boiling water in plastic, several times a day.
   • Ice cube trays – twisted and cracked every time, and the ice goes straight into your drink.
   • Sponges and scourers – shed with every scrub, onto the very plates you are cleaning.
   • Dishwasher tablets – Finish and Logix wrap theirs in a plastic film, not the rice paper I had taken it for. It dissolves in the wash, and the wash water is sprayed over your crockery and cutlery.[16]
   • Baby bottles – plastic, heated, shaken and sucked on by the smallest body in the house.
   • Dummies, teething rings and bite-valve drink bottles – plastic chewed on purpose, for hours at a time.
   • Takeaway containers and microwaving in plastic – heat is the fastest way to get plastic out of the container and into the meal.
   • Plastic takeaway cutlery – scraped along the container and bitten on with every mouthful.
   • Rice – picks up plastic on its way to you, at 3 to 4 milligrams a serve, and instant rice has four times that. Rinsing removes 20 to 40 per cent.[17]

   In the Bathroom

   • Floss – a plastic thread dragged between your teeth.
   • Toothbrush – plastic bristles scrubbed against your gums twice a day.
   • Clear aligners – plastic worn in the mouth all day, and friction against the teeth sheds it.[18]
   • Nasal sprays, eye drops, inhalers – the only items on this page that deliver plastic straight into the nose, eyes and lungs.
   • Medicine wrappers and pill boxes – the pill sits in plastic until the moment you swallow it.
   • Cotton buds and razors – plastic rubbed on skin and in ears.
   • Wet wipes – mostly plastic fibre, not cotton.
   • Contact lenses – plastic sitting on the eye all day.
   • Cosmetics and glitter – plastic is used as filler, polish and shine, and is applied on purpose.
   • Shampoo and soap bottles – squeezed, in hot water, every day.

   In the House

   • Carpets – every time you walk, sit or lie on the carpet it releases fibres, and the vacuum stirs them into the air.
   • Curtains, sofas and cushions – synthetic fabric outside, plastic foam inside, both shedding as they age.
   • Vinyl flooring – walked on all day, mopped, and worn thin.
   • Paint – most house paint is acrylic, which is plastic, and it chalks and flakes.
   • Fans – plastic blades spinning in the air you breathe, and they stir up the dust.
   • TVs, phones, tablets, screens, mice, keyboards – handled, warm and rubbed for hours a day.
   • Dryer lint – that grey fluff is your synthetic clothes, and the finer part went out the vent or stayed in the air.

   In the Bedroom

   • Sheets, pillow cases, mattress protectors – if they are polyester or a blend, you spend a third of your life breathing next to them.
   • Mattress and pillow fill – plastic foam or fibre, compressed and released every night.
   • Fleece blankets – fleece is one of the heaviest shedders there is.

   What you wear

   • Clothing – polyester, nylon and acrylic shed with every wear and every wash.
   • Watches, hearing aids – plastic against the skin, and in the ear, all day.
   • Shoe soles – wear down to nothing, like tyres, and leave the dust behind you.
   • Face masks – plastic fibre, breathed through.
   • Chewing gum – the gum base is plastic, chewed on purpose.[19]

   Outside

   • Tyres – the largest single source of plastic dust in the air.
   • Artificial turf – plastic grass, walked on and left in the sun.
   • Garden pots, weed mat, hose – sun and water break them down into the soil you grow food in.
   • Car interior – a sealed plastic box, heated in the sun, that you sit in and breathe.

   Medical

   • IV bags, blood bags, syringes, wound dressings – plastic delivered straight into the bloodstream or onto an open wound, bypassing every barrier the body has.

7. Summary

   There is no diet, no water source and no room that is free of plastic. The routes in are eating, drinking and breathing, and the largest contributors are seafood, bottled water, synthetic fabrics and tyre dust. Heat, friction and age make everything shed faster. You can reduce your intake, but you cannot avoid it, because it is already everywhere. Where it came from is the subject of the next article.

The ways Plastics get into your Body