A “breakthrough discovery” links micro- and nanoplastics to heart disease, stroke and death in humans, but the researchers say more work is needed on a general population.
A new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that certain people with the tiny plastic particles in their tissue were more than two times more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or die from any cause.
“I hope that the alarm message from our study will raise the consciousness of citizens, especially governments, to finally become aware of the importance of the health of our planet,” said Dr. Giuseppe Paolisso, one of the study’s co-authors and a professor of internal medicine at Italy’s University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli. “To put it in a slogan that can unite the need for health for humans and the planet, plastic-free is healthy for the heart and the earth.”
Microplastics — particles smaller than 5 millimeters — and nanoplastics — particles smaller than 1,000 nanometers, too small for the human eye to detect — break down from larger plastics and have become seemingly ubiquitous in water, soil and air. They have been detected in human blood, lungs, liver, placenta, breast milk and urine.
