The natural, cognitive human brain samples collected when an autopsy in early 2024 contained more Small plastic fragments One of the samples collected eight years ago, according to a new study.
In general, the brain samples in the corpses contained seven to 30 times of more small plastic fragments than the kidneys and liver, the author of the joint study Matthew Campin, Professor of Regents and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at New Mexico University in Albukirk.
“The concentrations we saw in the brain tissue for ordinary individuals, who are about 45 or 50 years old, were 4,800 micrograms per gram, or 0.48 % by weight,” Campin said.
Campin said this is the equivalent of a complete standard plastic spoon.
He said: “Compared to the anatomy brain samples than 2016, this is 50 % higher,” he said. “This means that our brains today are 99.5 % of the brain and the rest of the plastic.”
However, it is possible that the current methods of measuring plastic may be more than or reduce their levels of levels in the body, as Campin said: “We are working hard to reach a very accurate estimate, which I must think we will have within the next year.”
The researchers also found three to five times of stray -like plastic fragments in the brains of 12 people who were diagnosed with dementia before their death compared to healthy brains. These fragments were smaller than the eye that could see it, concentrated in the walls of the arteries and veins in the brain as well as in the immune cells of the brain.
“It is somewhat concerned, but remember that dementia is a disease where the brain barrier and clearance mechanisms are subject,” Campin said.
In addition, there are inflammatory cells and brain tissue atrophy with dementia, which may create a “type of pelvic to go”.
“We want to be very careful in explaining these results because the exact plastic is most likely very high due to the disease (dementia), and we are not currently suggesting that accurate plastic can cause the disease,” Campin said.
The finding of plastic deposits in the brain does not prove that it causes damage. She did not participate in the new study.
“It is not clear whether these particles in life are liquid, enter and leave the brain, or if they are collected in nerve tissues and enhancing the disease,” she said in an email. “More search is needed to understand how molecules can interact with cells and if this has toxic result.”
In fact, the researchers saw signs that the liver and kidneys in the body may be able to wipe some of the plastic materials from the body. Whether this can happen in the brain, he said, unknown.
Possible health damages
Finding higher levels of delicate plastic in human tissues today “logical” because plastic manufacturing, plastic pollution and human exposure to plastic was everything INCRING quicklyDr. Philip Landrigan, Professor of Pediatricians and Professor of Biology, Director of the World Public Health Program, the Public Calibure and the International Observatory of Playing Health at Boston College, said.
“More than half of all plastic has been conducted at all since 2002 and production on the right track to double by 2040,” said Landrigan, who has not participated in the new study.
Landrigan is the main author of A March 2023 Report from Mindo – Monaco Plastic and Human Health Committee, A global union for scientists, health care workers and policy analysts assigned to follow plastic materials from construction to the final product.
In the 2023 report, plastic consortium is associated with damage to human health at each stage of the plastic life cycle stage.
“Studies have found that these plastic materials are in the human heart, great blood vessels, lungs, liver, testes, digestive system and placenta,” said Landrigan.
“The biggest question is,” well, what do these particles do for us? “Frankly, there is a lot that we still do not know.” “What we know with the real certainty is that these particles made of fine plastic such as Trojan horses – they carry with them all thousands of chemicals found in plastic and some of these chemicals are very bad actors.”
By invading individual cells and tissues in the main organs, nano -plastic can cut cellular processes and deposits Chemical materials endocrine drug like Vinoland Philanthropyand Flame inhibitorsand Heavy metals and Materials per-pfas, or pfas.
Endocrine conflicts overlap with the human reproductive system, which leads to reproductive and reproductive distortions, as well as female infertility and a decrease in the number of sperm, according to what he said. The endocrine community.
“We have some good indicators that the exact and ligamentary plastic causes damage, although we are far from knowing the full range of this damage,” said Landrigan. “I would like to say that we have enough information here we need to start taking preventive action.”
The American Chemistry Council, the Industry Association, told CNN FDA says Current scientific evidence does not show that delicate plastic or nanoparticles discovered in foods pose a danger to human health.
“research Kimberly White, Vice -President of the Council for Organizational and Scientific Affairs, said that the ongoing not only helps to address the current data gaps in our understanding of exact plastic, but also aims to develop improved tools to measure the thickness of the exact plastic plastic.
She said: “This work is important given the unveiled methods that researchers often apply to lead to unreliable or misleading results, the complex nature of exact plastic, and many variables that can affect human health.”
Small pieces of plastic were discovered in the human placenta, mother’s milk, testes, liver, kidney, carotid arteries and brain. – Douglas Sasha/Moment RF/Getty Images/File
The nanic plastic ‘kidnapping’ their way to the brain
To study, Publish Monday In the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers examined the tissues of the brain, kidneys and liver that were harvested by people who underwent forensic anatomy in 2016 and 2024. For comparison, the researchers also looked at the brains of people who died between 1997 and 2013.
The brain tissue samples were collected from the front shell, which is the brain area associated with thinking and thinking. It is part of the most affected brain Frontial dementia (FTD) and Later stages Alzheimer’s disease.
While some large molecules that are a micrometer to five micrometers go to the liver and kidneys. “
MicroPlastics They are parts that can range from less than 0.2 inches (5 millimeters) or about the size of the pencil eraser, to 1 nm. Human hair strand is about 80,000 nm, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Any smaller thing is nanopolitan plastic to be measured by billions of meters.
“Based on our notes, we believe that the brain attracts the smallest nanotechnology, such as 100 to 200 nm in length. Campin, also the director of the New Mexico Minerals Center in Biology and Medicine, said this is the size of two Covid viruses side by side.
Nanopolitan Experts say that the most disturbing plastic materials for human health, because small pieces can occupy accommodation within individual cells.
“They somehow kidnapped the nanoparticles across the body and reaching the brain, and they cross the blood barrier in the brain,” Campin said. “Plastic loves fats, or fats, so one of the theories is that the plastic disappears by the fat that we eat and which is then delivered to the organs that really love fat – the brain from above.”
The human brain rotates 60 % fat Weighs, much more than any other member. Essential fatty acids, such as omega -3s, are the key and performance of brain cells. Since the human body cannot produce essential fatty acids on its own, it should come from food or nutritional supplements.
Landrijan said the diet is the main way to expose small sprains and Leanuan, but some are also mobile: “When people drive on the highway and their frames give up on the surface of the highway, a certain amount of fine plastic molecules are thrown into the air.
He said: “If you live near the coast, some of the fine plastic molecules in the ocean are kicking in the air through the movement of the wave.” “So swallowing is the dominant path, but inhalation is also an important way.”
Learn how to use less than plastic
Experts say there are many steps that individuals can take to reduce their exposure to plastic and their plastic program.
Landrigan said: “It is important not to intimidate hell from people, because science in this field is still developing, and no one in 2025 will live without plastic.”
“I say to people, listen, there are some plastic materials from which you cannot escape. You will not get a mobile phone or a computer that does not have plastic. But try to reduce your exposure to the plastic that you can avoid, especially the one -use plastic materials.”
Landrijan said it is difficult to avoid foods wrapped in a plastic movie because it is everywhere, but you can take the food out of the plastic cover before cooking it or put it in the microwave.
He said: “When plastic heats up, this speeds up the movement of accurate plastic from wrapping to food.”
Invest in a bag of cloth with clouds and ask the dry cleaner to restore your clothes in that instead of those thin papers of plastic, as suggested Board of Defense of Natural ResourcesEnvironmental Call Group. Bring a travel mug to the local café store for fast food and silver utensils to the office to reduce cups and plastic tools.
“Do not use plastic bags when going to shop. Use a fabric, a paper bag or a recycling bag. Try to avoid plastic water bottles, if you can do this.”
A March 2024 studies 1 liter of bottled water-which is equivalent to two bottled water bottles that are usually purchased by consumers-have been found on 240,000 plastic particles on average of seven types of plastic materials. About 90 % of these were nanoparticles.
“Use a cup of metal or glass drinking instead of a plastic cup. Landrigan said:” Store your food in glass containers instead of plastic containers. “Work in your local community to ban plastic bags, as many societies have done throughout the United States. There is a lot you can do.
He said: “On the societal level, you can connect the bow with other people who are interested in children’s health to pay for restrictions on plastic manufacturing and the use of the safest chemicals in plastic.” “Just because we do not know everything that can be known about every chemical in plastic does not mean that we should not take measures against the plastic chemicals that we know are bad actors.”
Editor’s note: This story was originally written in August 2024 based on Preprint, an early copy of a paper that has not yet been reviewed. It was updated to reflect the final paper that the peers reviewed and spread in nature.
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account on Cnn.com
