Moving Microplastic Mountains: Hope in the Face of the Insurmountable

The word is getting out about microplastics, and the news is looking grim. The Guardian just reported “Microplastics are infiltrating brain tissue, studies show: ‘There’s nowhere left untouched.” The evidence is becoming clearer every day: Microplastics are a devastating health hazard.  Sedat Gündoğdu from Cukurova University urged “it is now imperative to declare a global emergency.”

Microplastics are showing up everywhere, from the Top of Mt. Everest to the Marianas Trench. Now they are being discovered in every part of the human body, and the outlook appears bleak. Microplastics have been discovered lurking in the bone marrow. They have been found in patients undergoing knee arthroplasty.  Microplastics easily cross the blood-brain barrier. Research has revealed that a whopping 0.5% of brain tissue sampled is made of up microplastic. They are turning up everywhere: The Placenta, testicles, blood vessels, lungs, kidneys, liver, and even newborn babies. The evidence is clear: microplastics are everywhere we can find them, inside and outside the body.  This is devastating news as the health consequences of microplastics are becoming more apparent every day.

As the information about microplastics grows, the outlook appears grim. Some have given into the inexorable fate of microplastics with a defeatist resignation. Some are simply despondent over the bleak outlook of the microplastic reality facing us. Others have acquiesced a cynicism with a flavor of doomed acceptance. Yet there are champions in this space. First are those doing the research to understand more about the prevalence of microplastics and their consequences. Next are those sounding the alarm and raising awareness of this reality. Lastly there are those actively determining environmental, medical, social, and political mitigation strategies. These are the men and women who will emerge from the crisis as the heroes. It is a big ship to turn around but it is those who engage in the fight every day who set us on a straight course towards a healthier, cleaner, and brighter future for humanity.