Sea turtles aren’t the only victims of plastic

HERE’S A FACT that might make you feel a little strange inside: You and I have plastic in our brains. Tiny particles of polymers are also hanging about in our livers, kidneys, heart, and bloodstream. If that doesn’t make your insides itch, consider that in just eight years, scientists have observed an increase in the amount of bodily plastic. A study published in Nature compared postmortem organ samples from 2016 and 2024 autopsy specimens. The more recent cadavers had far higher concentrations in the liver and brain.

- By Lara Williams

You might wonder if it matters if we are all steadily becoming part-plastic (even a newborn baby contains plastic these days). What harm could such tiny particles do? Akin to climate change’s image of a polar bear on a lone ice float, the poster children of the plastic crisis thus far have been marine creatures choking on straws and carrier bags. These images are emotive but have kept the issue at arm’s length —a problem for the deep sea. In reality, it’s so much worse than you thought.

The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, has laid out the problem definitively, calling plastics a “grave, growing and under-recognized danger” in a paper published this week launching a global monitoring system to track progress on mitigating the harms.

Plastics are certainly useful. Their development has supported advances in fields such as medicine, engineering, and electronics. They've allowed us to make sterile, single-use catheters and syringes, which reduce the risk of infection. They’re lightweight, making cars and other vehicles more fuel efficient. And they make insulating and housing electronics safer. Because the costs to the environment and human health are externalized, the material is cheap — allowing us all to access the convenience of a takeaway coffee or affordable clothing.