Plastic pollution found in human brain could be absorbed by breathing

A report on indoor environments, airborne microplastics and respiration could point to a deadly new form of air pollution.

Research led by Professor Dr. Thais Mauad and Dr. Luis Fernando Amato-Lourenco of the University of Sao Paulo and Freie University Berlin has discovered microplastics int eh olfactory bulb, located at the bottom of the brain. 

More than half of samples of recently deceased in Brazil’s largest city – 8 in 15 – showed evidence of plastic fibres and particles in the brain. The most common material was polypropylene, commonly used in clothing, bottles and food packaging. 

Earlier this year scientists announced that people could be breathing  in ‘a credit card’s worth’ of microplastics each week, with traces found in noses. Combined with the results of this new study into the brain, this suggests breathing could be a key cause of microplastic absorption in humans, and by extension, animals. 

‘Plastic has become as synonymous as air is to breathing. Time and time again scientists are peeling back the cover on plastics’ dangerous effects on human health. There can be no further doubt,’ said Maria Westerbos, Founder, Plastic Soup Foundation & Co-Founder, Plastic Health Council. ‘The international community is only months away from the final Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, and yet policymakers are giving into the petrochemical giants. The international community cannot waste any more time, they must finally listen to science, once and for all.’

It is now feared that microplastics could cause alterations in cellular function, particular within organs. Children are also believed to be more susceptible to this, with changes becoming definitive in adult life. Cancer cells in the gut are already known to spread at an accelerated rate after contact with microplastics.

Plastic Health Council member, Professor Lukas Kenner, believes could be a significant risk factor in early-onset cancer genesis. Since the early 2000s, cancers in young people in the UK have risen by around 9%. Human health risks from microplastics could also include fertility and heart disease, with 4,000 of the 16,000 chemicals present in microplastics scientifically proven to be hazardous to living organisms. 

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