Hello everyone, I am a six-year-old baby, and I am here to meet you again!
I believe that many mothers will have some small resistance to plastic products when purchasing supplies for their children, and the reason is probably that the quality is poor and unhealthy.
In recent years, the concept of "microplastics" has received widespread attention.
New York University research found that baby feces contain 20 times more microplastics than adults! Is the harm of microplastics really that serious?
Today, Xiaowa will take you to explore microplastics together!
01
plastics? Microplastics?
I believe that many people will feel that it is not a good thing when they hear plastic. From the "plastic restriction order" to the "plastic ban order", it seems that everyone is denying it.
▲ Image source: Pexels
Although the "wind evaluation" of plastic is somewhat poor, the convenience it brings to our lives is undeniable. Of course, if we can change our living habits, we can reduce the negative problems caused by plastic to a certain extent.
As for microplastics, to put it crudely, they are smaller and finer plastics (plastic fragments and particles with a diameter of less than 5 mm)
Microplastics range in size from a few microns to a few millimeters, and are a mixture of non-uniform plastic particles of various shapes that are often difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.
Unlike ordinary plastics, they are barely visible, but they are almost everywhere, from the ocean, marine life, the Arctic and Antarctic, the himalayas, the snow and ice, the Mariana Trench, to the human placenta, toothpaste, facial cleanser, disposable paper cups, disposable lunch boxes, common chemicals or packaging, food, drinking water and air.
02
The Six Felonies of Microplastics
Let's first talk about what are the "worst sins" of microplastics:
Affects the digestive system
In 2018, a study by the European Society of Gastroenterology found as many as 9 kinds of microplastic particles in human feces; a recent article in the journal Science reported that microplastics can enter the human body through contaminated food and water, and larger microplastic particles may be excreted through feces, suggesting that microplastics can enter the human gastrointestinal tract and may affect the health of the human digestive system.
Cells are damaged
Those microplastics with smaller diameters may pass through the skin or intestinal barrier, or be deposited in the respiratory tract and lungs by inhalation, which may cause DNA damage, cell damage necrosis, inflammatory response and so on.
A paper in the Journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also reported that microplastics can destabilize red blood cell membranes. It may affect the normal function of the cells, resulting in a decrease in the oxygen carrying capacity of red blood cells.
Affects the respiratory system
Studies have also found that inhalation of microplastics can also damage the respiratory system, but it also depends on the physical properties and individual differences of inhaled particulate matter. Therefore, different individuals may react differently to inhaling microplastics, which may cause asthma, chronic pneumonia, exogenous allergic alveolitis, respiratory symptoms, etc.
Affects the skin
The harm of skin contact is relatively small, but for nanoscale microplastics, due to the extremely small diameter, it is possible to cross the dermal barrier, so long-term skin exposure to microplastics may have potential adverse effects.
Affects child development
The chemical components of plastics (such as antioxidants, plasticizers, coupling agents, pigments, etc.) and substances adsorbed on the surface of plastics can bring harm to human health.
In the case of plasticizers, such compounds can form pseudohormonals that interfere with the endocrine function of the organism and may cause endocrine problems such as precocious puberty in children.
Phthalates dissolved in children's toys and some supplies can harm children's liver and kidneys.
Affects fetal development
Microplastics not only endanger human health, but may also be transferred to fetal tissue through the placenta, endangering the health of the next generation. However, there is relatively little research in this area at present, and people do not fully understand this aspect.
In summary, microplastics threaten the health of human skin, digestive system, blood system, liver, kidney, endocrine system, and respiratory system, and its potential other harms are still under further study.
03
How to avoid microplastics?
We can't do it completely without touching microplastics, so in life, how many microplastics are normally exposed? Will it affect the health of adults and children?
Don't worry, let's take a look at the research data first:
Globally, the average person consumes 5g of microplastics per week, and may consume 1769 plastic particles from water per week.
Fill the drink with hot water in disposable paper cups and release about 25,000 micron-sized microplastic particles into the beverage within 15 minutes. A person who drinks three cups of tea or coffee a day in a disposable paper cup will consume 75,000 microplastic particles that are invisible to the naked eye.
If you use a polypropylene plastic bottle to brew milk powder for your baby, then each liter of milk powder may produce 16 million microplastic particles, and the higher the water temperature, the more it is released. In addition, bottled water, oysters, fruits and vegetables, and the air are filled with a large number of microplastic particles.
Seeing this, do you think: I use less/no plastic cups!
Avoiding plastic cups is a good approach, but not absolutely.
Xiaowa here also wants to tell you a noteworthy place, some people like to drink tea with tea bags, but there are data showing that using tea bags to make tea, 5 minutes later, 14.7 billion microplastics are produced in the water, which contains 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles.
It can be seen that microplastics are really everywhere around us. But we can try to avoid the ingestion of microplastics, in simple terms: less use of plastic products.
04
Does the child need to be able to avoid microplastics?
Everyone's evaluation of plastic tableware is generally "convenient and easy to use, but not environmentally friendly"
But I have to admit that what can effectively reduce the intake of microplastics is to reduce plastic products in diet and life, such as: disposable plastic lunch boxes, plastic straws, plastic spoons, etc.
Although the paper straw is not easy to use, it is indeed more environmentally friendly and healthy than the plastic straw.
In fact, so much has been said, but the reality is that plastic and our lives are inseparable. Then the harm should be minimized in this case. Parents don't have to panic too much, we don't need (and can't) therefore ban babies from all plastic products. Plastic itself is not toxic, but chemical additives in the process of making plastics, such as plasticizers, can easily cause harm to human health.
For example, after high-temperature sterilization of the bottle, the bottle can be rinsed with cool sterile water to wash off a large number of microplastic particles attached to the surface of the bottle due to high temperature disinfection. (The sterile water mentioned here can refer to drinking water and boiled water that is left cold.) ）
Key: When there are other better options, try not to use plastic products. To buy toys for children also try not to choose plastic products, generally regular manufacturers of toys or a certain degree of safety, we need to pay attention to, do not let plastic toys into the child's mouth. If the baby is in the period of appetite, we can arrange a teething stick for the child