- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
'They're everywhere': microplastics in oceans, air and human body
From ocean depths to mountain peaks, humans have littered the planet with tiny shards of plastic. We have even absorbed these microplastics into our bodies -- with uncertain implications.
Images of plastic pollution have become familiar: a turtle suffocated by a shopping bag, water bottles washed up on beaches, or the monstrous "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" of floating detritus.
Millions of tonnes of plastic produced every year, largely from fossil fuels, make their way into the environment and degrade into smaller and smaller pieces.
"We did not imagine 10 years ago that there could be so many small microplastics, invisible to the naked eye, and that they were everywhere around us," said Jean-Francois Ghiglione, a researcher at the Laboratory of Microbial Oceanography in France.
"And we could not yet envisage finding them in the human body".
Now scientific studies are increasingly detecting microplastics in some human organs -- including "the lungs, spleen, kidneys, and even the placenta," Ghiglione told AFP.
It may not come as much of a shock that we breathe in these particles present in the air, in particular microfibres from synthetic clothing.
"We know that there's microplastics in the air, we know it's all around us," said Laura Sadofsky, from the Hull York Medical School in the UK.
Her team found polypropylene and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) in lung tissue, identifying fibres from synthetic fabrics.
"The surprise for us was how deep it got into the lungs and the size of those particles," she told AFP.
In March, another study reported the first traces of PET found in the blood.
Given the small sample of volunteers, some scientists say it is too early to draw conclusions, but there are concerns that if plastics are in the bloodstream they could be transported to all organs.
- Breathing in plastics for years -
In 2021, researchers found microplastics in both maternal and foetal placental tissue, expressing "great concern" over the possible consequences on the development of the foetus.
But concern is not the same as a proven risk.
"If you ask a scientist if there is a negative effect, he or she would say 'I don't know'," said Bart Koelmans, professor in Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality at Wageningen University.
"It's potentially a big problem, but we don't have the scientific evidence to positively confirm what are the effects, if any."
One hypothesis is that microplastics could be responsible for certain syndromes that weaken human health.
While scientists have recently identified their presence in the body, it is likely that humans have been eating, drinking and breathing in plastics for years.
In 2019, a shock report by the environmental charity WWF estimated that people are ingesting and inhaling up to five grams of plastic per week -- enough to make a credit card.
Koelmans, who contests the methodology and results of that study, has calculated the amount is closer to a grain of salt.
"Over a lifetime, a grain of salt per week is still quite something," he told AFP.
While health studies on humans have yet to be developed, toxicity in certain animals reinforces concerns.
"Small microplastics invisible to the naked eye have deleterious effects on all the animals that we have studied in the marine environment, or on land," said Ghiglione.
He added that the array of chemicals found in these materials -- including dyes, stabilisers, flame retardants -- can affect growth, metabolism, blood sugar, blood pressure and even reproduction.
The researcher said there should be a "precautionary" approach, urging consumers to reduce the number of plastic-packaged products they buy, particularly bottles.
Earlier this year, the United Nations began a process to develop an internationally binding treaty to tackle the global plastic scourge.
It has warned that the world is facing a pollution crisis to match the biodiversity and climate crises.
While the health implications from plastics are not known, scientists do know the impacts of indoor and outdoor air pollution, which experts from the Lancet Commission on pollution and health have estimated caused 6.7 million people to suffer an early death in 2019.
Some 460 million tonnes of plastics were used in 2019, twice as much as 20 years earlier. Less than 10 percent was recycled.
Annual production of fossil-fuel-based plastics is set to top 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060, with waste exceeding one billion tonnes, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said last month.
"People cannot stop breathing, so even if you change your eating habits you will still inhale them," said Koelmans.
"They're everywhere."
N.Esteves--PC