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The plastic inside us: how microplastics may be reshaping our bodies and minds
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2025
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None of these articles address how microplastics could be harmful. Everyone just assumes they're bad. For example, what cellular machinery is being damaged?
as a cell biologist this confuses me.
usually we find the symptoms and discover the cause afterwards.
however, with micro plastics, we discovered the "cause" but somehow, haven't really found any symptoms.
I'm assuming that having then is bad, yet it's surprisingly inert.
I'm sure in 10 years we will find a massive horror that they cause when it's too late.
How can we find a control group in the first place if we are all affected?
Good point, and another reason why it's difficult,
however, you don't always need a control, look ar Rachel Carson's Silent spring.
which documented how having DDT everywhere in the world polluting all the waters leads to a decrease in Bird population without a DDT free planet to compare with besides the past.
You have an interesting writing style.
Gonna have to dissect some deceased inhabitants of North Sentinel Island as a control group.
I thought we've already been warned that all this plastic causes cancer. Like that's why we're not supposed to microwave things in plastic bowls & with plastic wrap, it supposedly causes cancer.
Some plastics cause cancer, others seem to be completely ignored by biological processes. Plastics range from cellophane which is basically just cellulose fibers chained together to Teflon which is basically entirely man made. It all depends, but generally speaking, plastic in the microwave is bad.
We think it might cause cancer, but don't think we really seem any strong sognificant relationship.
Because it's ultimately a Pascal's Wager due to it being unknown.
You can assume they're not bad and go all in on plastics. But if you're wrong, you'll pay for it worse than if you probably tried avoiding further intake as much as possible.
At the very least, we know that they're chemically inert, but the current school of thought is that they might cause trouble as a result of that, by physically obstructing things, even if they don't otherwise cause problems.
Asbestos is chemically inert, as are PFAS, but both are understood to be pretty bad for you
I think you might mean that PTFE/Teflon plastics are inert (at least unless burned).
PFAS chemicals used to emulsify or coat things with it are what gets into the water supply and causes problems.
PTFE and some others are considered chemically inert. Other PFAS are mostly chemically inert.
Carbon-fluorine bonds are extremely strong. If these weren't mostly chemically inert, they wouldn't be "forever" chemicals. They would readily degrade and it wouldn't be an issue.
Phthalates are not chemically inert and they are endocrine disrupters.
This civilisation of ours runs on plastic. We have solid evidence that burning oil is going to kill as all, and we decided to not do anything about it. Plastic is way more ingrained in our civilisation, you need way more than "just in case it's actually bad" to have us turn on plastic