Microplastics warning: Health impacts of inhaling and ingesting particles

They are everywhere — in our food, our blood, our clothes and even in our drinking water. Microplastics are a looming health threat, with experts warning of health risks similar to asbestos.

Australian experts have made a shocking discovery about microplastics, with fears it could become as big a health risk as asbestos.

Microplastics are tiny particles, down to virus-size or even nano-size, that are the result of plastics breaking down. They are polluting everything, from the water we drink to the air we breathe.

“There are more microplastics in the ocean than there are stars in the galaxy,” said marine environmental scientist and program director at the Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP) Dr Michelle Blewitt.

What is still unknown is the potential health impacts of inhaling and ingesting microplastics, which have now been found in colon samples, blood samples, cord blood and the lungs.

Now Australian experts have discovered that plastic bags and bottles are not the biggest source of plastic pollution.

Dr Michelle Blewitt (centre) with research director Dr Scott Wilson and operations manager Kylie Tymoszuk from AUSMAP.

The Australian Microplastic Assessment Project is measuring how much microplastic is in the environment.

Dr Mark Browne from the University of NSW said research shows textiles and clothing are bigger contributors to plastic pollution.

In a purpose-built laundromat in Manly Vale, Dr Browne’s research has shown that a single synthetic garment can add more than 2000 fibres to wastewater, yet it is a contaminant that has been largely ignored.

“Plastic bottles and bags have long been identified as the most abundant culprits of oceanic plastic. However, our research shows that microfibres can make up over 85 per cent of debris on shorelines,“ he said.

“When you put an item of clothing on over your head, you’ll be breathing in some fibres. When you change your lint filter, there will be fibres there, when you are on your carpet, on your sofa, textiles are everywhere.

“For plastic fibres and natural fibres, we know there can be an inflammatory response, we know in some circumstances there can be scar tissue forming. We don’t know whether not that scar tissue will follow the same trajectory as it will with asbestos and grow into cancer.”

Dr Mark Browne from the University of NSW at the Manly Vale research facility.

Dr Mark Browne says research shows clothing is a big contributor to plastic pollution.

AUSMAP’s Dr Blewitt said filters on washing machines should become standard.

Microplastics washed off from synthetic clothes contribute up to 35 per cent of the plastic particles in the ocean.

“The average standard wash produces well over 2000 microfibres from synthetic clothes,” she said.

“It should be best practice. They should be installed in all new washing machines no matter what, because it is one of the largest inputs of microplastics into the environment are microfibres from our clothes. It needs to come down to filters in the machines themselves.”

Plastics don’t break down, they break up into nano particles.

Professor Sarah Dunlop, director of plastics and human health at the Minderoo Foundation, said those who worked in synthetic textile factories already have higher levels of lung damage.

“People who work in textiles like polyester, they have a very high incidence of interstitial lung diseases, the same seen in asbestosis and you never recover from that,” she said.

“(Plastic) does not break down, it continues break up into tiny, tiny pieces and there are eight billion metric tonnes of this stuff made already, one metric tonne for every single person on the planet and it is about to double.

“Those microplastics break down to nano plastics, virus size and it is likely they can melt across membranes and maybe even cross the blood-brain barrier.

“These particles shouldn’t be there and they are very likely linked with inflammation. Many chronic diseases are going up faster than we can explain by known risk factors.

“Something else is going on and I think we are polluting ourselves.”

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