I have begun to worry about these minuscule particles.

Recent research findings caught my eye. Did you know that boiling tap water effectively removes 90 percent of microplastics?

Today, I will explore the problem of environmental microplastics before turning to this new finding.

The “plastic age.”

They permeate the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil beneath our feet and have emerged as an omnipresent concern.

Their pervasive presence in global drinking water and food supplies raises alarming questions.

How do microplastics influence the environment and our health?

As we navigate this landscape of microscopic pollutants, unraveling the intricate web of implications surrounding microplastics and contemplating sustainable solutions for a healthier future is imperative.

Some researchers even call this the “Plastic Age.”

My concern

Plastic is everywhere in our oceans and Great Lakes, making it the most common type of trash floating around.

This plastic comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The National Ocean Services explains that when it’s smaller than five millimeters (about the size of a pencil eraser), we call it “microplastics.”

A groundbreaking study recently shook me.

Scientists reported that the bottled water you can buy at the store could have 10 to 100 times more small bits of plastic than we previously thought . These tiny particles are so small you can’t see them with a regular microscope.

One liter, 240,000 tiny particles

In simpler terms, researchers discovered this:

One liter of water, about the same as two regular-sized bottled waters, contains around 240,000 tiny plastic pieces.

These plastic bits come from seven different types of plastics. Most of them, about 90%, are what we call “nanoplastics,” which are incredibly small.

The rest are “microplastics,” which are a bit bigger but still tiny.

Into the lungs and gut

At 1,000th the average width of a human hair, nanoplastics are so tiny they can migrate through the tissues of the digestive tract or lungs into the bloodstream, distributing potentially harmful synthetic chemicals throughout the body and into cells, experts say.

The tiny plastic particles can sneak into individual cells and tissues in our major organs, causing potential disruptions in how our cells work.

They also bring along harmful chemicals like bisphenols, phthalates, flame retardants, and PFAS, which are known for interfering with our hormones, among other things.

When plastics get inside us, they release these chemicals, and because our bodies are warmer than the environment, these chemicals easily move from the plastic into our bodies.

It’s like plastic is carrying these potentially harmful substances right into us.

Microplastic perils

According to a recent report by the World Health Organization, microplastics have been found in drinking water sources worldwide, including bottled and tap water.

These tiny particles, smaller than five millimeters, seriously threaten human health and the environment.

Ingesting microplastics can lead to a range of health problems, including reproductive issues, developmental problems, and even cancer.

Microplastics and marine life

Furthermore, researchers have discovered microplastics in marine life, with studies showing that fish and other seafood consumed by humans contain microplastics.

This finding means that even if we reduce our exposure to microplastics, we may still consume them indirectly through our food sources.

The impact of microplastics on the environment is also significant, as they can harm marine life and accumulate in ecosystems, leading to long-term environmental damage.

Boiling water removes microplastics.

A new study discovered this remarkable fact:

If you boil and filter tap water using everyday tools, similar to what you’d use for making tea or coffee, you can slash 90 percent of those super tiny plastic particles called nano- and microplastics.

To test this, scientists added these small plastic bits to tap water from Guangzhou (China) and boiled each sample for five minutes.

Study details

The boiling process caused the minerals in the tap water to form crystal structures of calcium carbonate, which acted like a shield, trapping the plastic particles and greatly lowering their amount.

According to Prof. Eddy Zeng, one of the researchers involved in the study, these tiny plastic particles could accumulate over time.

However, to get rid of any leftover particles that have been trapped, you can pour the water through a coffee filter.

This step helps to scrub away and remove any remaining plastic particles that might be encrusted in the crystal structures formed during the boiling process.

Limiting your microplastic exposure

Using a glass or stainless steel pot is best if you plan to boil your water to eliminate microplastics.

Healthline provides this guidance:

After boiling for around five minutes, let the water cool without stirring, as this helps the tiny plastic particles bind to the calcium and settle at the bottom of the pot. Once they’ve settled, you can filter or scoop them away.

However, it’s essential to know that boiling water won’t solve the microplastic issue completely.

Other ways to reduce your microplastic exposure

There are other sources of exposure we encounter regularly.

To reduce exposure, I try to avoid single-use plastic packaging, like bottled water, plastic utensils, and cooking products, and refrain from putting plastic containers in the dishwasher or microwave.

Regularly using these items can release plastic particles or chemicals, contributing to the problem.

My thoughts

This simple boiling-water strategy can “decontaminate” nano/microplastics (NMPs) from household tap water.

The approach has the potential to harmlessly alleviate human intake of nano/microplastics through water consumption.

Moreover, we can each improve the planet by avoiding single-use plastic packaging.

Increasing evidence indicates that plastics may gather in the body, leading to issues such as oxidative stress, inflammation, insulin resistance, problems with gut health, and potential liver issues.

I look forward to writing more about the absolute health risks of microplastics.

The post Discovering a Simple Solution: Boiling Tap Water Effectively Removes 90% of Microplastics. appeared first on Medika Life.

This has gone on for years but isn’t confined to food containers like the one on your desk, but also to the wrapping that may be used where you pick up your sandwiches or the packaging used in the supermarket for all the items you purchased there or even for shipping food products.

Every time you eat one of the products that has been wrapped, shipped, or slipped into a container with a specific chemical in it, you are, in effect, damaging your health, or endangering yourself or your children, if they also use those containers or wrappers.

What do you think should have been done decades ago when it was known that this was not a safe material to have near food? And what’s the stuff that’s so dangerous? It’s PFAS, the forever chemicals, and they are endocrine disrupters.

The information we have shows that people who are most likely to be subjected to endocrine disruptors (EDs) are more likely to have cancer, reproductive problems (like infertility, endometriosis, and miscarriages), metabolic problems (like diabetes), and/or immune system problems. Children who are exposed to endocrine disruptors also show behavioral and psychological problems. The disturbing results in children, in utero, and after birth, are particularly disturbing.

In the US, The Endocrine Society has indicated that hormonal disrupters put unborn children at the highest risk. Animal studies show that even small amounts during pregnancy can lead to obesity later on. Some disrupters directly affect cells in the pancreas and fat and liver cells. This can all cause insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

The EU has made rules about these chemicals with Regulation 2017/2100 and Regulation 2018/605. But these scientific factors are not a way to find EDs and do not fully protect people’s health.

For food contact purposes, the FDA said that makers can no longer sell grease-proofing substances containing PFAS. When these chemicals are used on food packaging paper and paperboard are taken off the market voluntarily, they will no longer be a major source of dietary exposure to PFAS from approved food contact uses. Where do we find PFAS used?

Paper and paperboard packaging is treated with grease-proofing chemicals to stop grease and oil from leaking and to make the packaging resistant to water. Materials with PFAS were used to make fast food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, take-out paperboard cases, pet food bags, and other similar kinds of packaging.

The FDA had given manufacturers three years to exhaust their supply of products containing this material. During the three-year moratorium, however, consumers continued to be exposed to these substances, and we do not know the long-lasting results of such exposure in terms of human health. Some manufacturers have already removed themselves from markets requiring them not to use this material in their products. We do not have information regarding which manufacturers have left the markets where they would have used PFAS. But this is only one small part of the equation; what about shipping food products or ingredients?

The issue now becomes one of finding safe wrapping and packaging materials that are not problematic should they come in contact with food either for us or animals, even in animal feed. How do we know which ones are safe and which ones still contain PFAS? We don’t, which leaves us with a quandary regarding how much exposure we will accept if we do not know where the exposure may be.

A question lingers in my mind regarding PFAS and food. While the FDA has indicated manufacturers can no longer make products containing this material for food packaging, what about all of the facilities that still have these kinds of packaging materials on hand? No one told them they had to discard all of these materials and purchase new ones without the dangerous PFAS in them. Who knows how much stock they had on hand?

Can we believe that all of the packaging materials in all of the shops or all of the food preparation companies are now free of PFAS? I know these are disturbing questions, but we must consider that the food is still unsafe because it may still be placed in packaging or wrappings containing the now-forbidden material. This can happen at the packaging level, whether at the manufacturer or retail level.

The post PFAS Is a Culprit Affecting Health, and It’s in Packaging — But No More in the USA appeared first on Medika Life.

All 50 samples of breast milk contained per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at levels nearly 2,000 times the amount considered safe for drinking water. According to the study authors;

This is the first study in the last 15 years to analyze per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in breast milk collected from mothers (n = 50) in the United States, and our findings indicate that both legacy and current-use PFAS now contaminate breast milk, exposing nursing infants.

Erika Schreder is the science director at Toxic-Free Future and a co-author of the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. In a statement following the paper’s publication, she stated;

“We now know that babies, along with nature’s perfect food, are getting toxic PFAS that can affect their immune systems and metabolism. We shouldn’t be finding any PFAS in breast milk and our findings make it clear that broader phaseouts are needed to protect babies and young children during the most vulnerable stages of life. Moms work hard to protect their babies, but big corporations are putting these, and other toxic chemicals that can contaminate breast milk, in products when safer options are available.”

What are safe levels? On April 27, 2021, EPA Administrator Regan called for the creation of a new “EPA Council on PFAS” that is charged with building on the agency’s ongoing work to better understand and ultimately reduce the potential risks caused by these chemicals. According to the EPA website’s statement on safe levels of PFOA and PFOS

To provide Americans, including the most sensitive populations, with a margin of protection from a lifetime of exposure to PFOA and PFOS from drinking water, EPA has established the health advisory levels at 70 parts per trillion.

Concentrations of PFAS discovered in the breast milk sampled were up to 2000 times higher than these levels.

What are PFAS, where do they come from, and how do they affect us?

According to the EPA, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, GenX, and many other chemicals. PFAS are found in a wide range of consumer products that people use every day such as cookware, pizza boxes, and stain repellants. Most people have been exposed to PFAS. Certain PFAS can accumulate and stay in the human body for long periods of time. 

There is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse health outcomes in humans. The most studied PFAS chemicals are PFOA and PFOS. Studies indicate that PFOA and PFOS can cause reproductive and developmental, liver and kidney, and immunological effects in laboratory animals. Both chemicals have caused tumors in animals. The most consistent findings are increased cholesterol levels among exposed populations, with more limited findings related to:

• low infant birth weights,
• effects on the immune system,
• cancer (for PFOA), and
• thyroid hormone disruption (for PFOS).

PFAS can be found in:

• Food packaged in PFAS-containing materials, processed with equipment that used PFAS, or grown in PFAS-contaminated soil or water.
• Commercial household products, including stain- and water-repellent fabrics, nonstick products (e.g., Teflon), polishes, waxes, paints, cleaning products, and fire-fighting foams (a major source of groundwater contamination at airports and military bases where firefighting training occurs).
• Workplace, including production facilities or industries (e.g., chrome plating, electronics manufacturing or oil recovery) that use PFAS.
• Drinking water, typically localized and associated with a specific facility (e.g., manufacturer, landfill, wastewater treatment plant, firefighter training facility).
• Living organisms, including fish, animals and humans, where PFAS have the ability to build up and persist over time.

For more detailed information on PFAS and how the EPA is addressing them, visit the EPA’s page on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances

A final word from Laurie Valeriano, executive director of Toxic-Free Future.

“If a harmful chemical can end up in breast milk due to its persistence or ability to bioaccumulate, it should be prohibited in everyday products we are constantly exposed to. It’s time for more states and the federal government to follow the lead of Washington state and ban PFAS and other equally dangerous classes of chemicals in products, especially when safer alternatives are found. Prevention-based policies are critical to ending this harmful and unnecessary contamination of our most precious resources — from breast milk to drinking water.”

The post Why Your Breast Milk May Already Be Too Toxic For Your Child appeared first on Medika Life.