Living near heavily microplastic-polluted waters along the United States coastline may significantly increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, stroke, and coronary artery disease, a condition in which plaque blocks the blood vessels that supply the heart, according to a new study.
“This is one of the first large-scale studies to suggest that living near microplastic-polluted waters may be linked to chronic health conditions,” said senior author Dr. Sarju Ganatra, medical director of sustainability and vice chair of research in the department of medicine at Lahey Hospital & Medical Centre in Burlington, Massachusetts.
“This study measured pollution in ocean water, but pollution is not limited to the sea. Ganatra said in a statement that microplastics are everywhere: in drinking water, in the food we eat, particularly seafood, and even in the air we breathe.
What are microplastics
Microplastics are polymer fragments that range in size from less than 0.2 inch (5 millimetres) to 1/25,000th of an inch (1 micrometre). Anything smaller is considered nanoplastic and must be measured in billionths of a metre.
According to experts, such minuscule particles can enter individual cells and tissues in major organs, potentially disrupting cellular processes and depositing endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenols, phthalates, flame retardants, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and heavy metals.
“The chemicals can be carried to your liver, kidney, and brain and even make their way across the placental boundary and end up in an unborn child,” Sherri “Sam” Mason, director of sustainability at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania, told CNN in a previous interview.
A slew of recent studies have found microplastics and nanoplastics in human brain tissue, testes and penis, blood, lung and liver tissues, urine and faeces, mother’s milk, and the placenta.
A March study discovered that people with microplastics or nanoplastics in their carotid artery tissues were twice as likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or die from any cause over the next three years as those who did not have any.
Ocean ‘bathtubs’ with polluted waters
Coastal waters were considered heavily polluted if every “bathtub” of ocean water contained 10 or more plastic particles, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
From 2015 to 2020, the National Centres for Environmental Information measured microplastic concentrations in ocean waters within 200 nautical miles of 152 coastal counties along the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico.
The researchers then compared disease prevalence in those counties based on whether residents lived near low or very high levels of microplastics. The data was then adjusted for additional risk factors such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, access to physicians, and socioeconomic status.
People who lived near highly polluted waters had an 18% higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes, a 9% higher risk of stroke, and a 7% higher risk of coronary artery disease than those who lived near waters with low levels of pollution, defined as seeing “one tiny plastic speck in 200 bathtubs of ocean water,” according to the study.
However, Ganatra stated that the study cannot establish a cause-and-effect relationship between nearby ocean microplastic levels measured only in water and the development of cardiometabolic diseases.
“We also did not measure plastic levels in residents of these counties, and we don’t know how these particles may harm the body. So, while the findings are compelling, they should serve as a call to conduct additional research rather than drawing definitive conclusions,” Ganatra added.
