Microplastics in the Human Body: Scientific Validity and Challenges

This set covers the key vocabulary and specific scientific concepts discussed regarding the presence, detection, and scientific skepticism of microplastics in human physiology.

Microplastics

Small plastic particles found throughout the environment, from the top of Mount Everest to inside human organs and blood.

Nanoplastics

Extraordinarily tiny plastic fragments that are significantly more challenging to analyze than larger microplastics due to their size.

$$\text{One teaspoon's worth}$$

The amount of plastic one specific study claimed to have found in human brains.

$$\pounds 10,000$$

The cost for a single session of an extreme blood-cleaning procedure that purports to remove microplastics from a person's body.

Damien Carrington

The Guardian's environment editor who reported on major doubts raised regarding the validity of key studies on microplastics in the human body.

Endocrine disruptors

Chemicals that plastics can potentially carry into the body, leading to concerns about serious health harm.

Mass spectrometry

An analytical technique where plastics are vaporized and broken into molecular fragments to be detected by their chemical signatures.

Digestion

The process of dissolving human tissue in acid to attempt to isolate and analyze potential microplastics within the sample.

False positives

An analytical error in microplastics research where fat molecules from human tissue are mistaken for plastic fragments due to similar chemical profiles.

Blanks

Laboratory control procedures where the entire analysis is run without a sample piece to identify if plastic contamination is coming from the lab environment itself.

Spiked samples

A quality control method where a known amount of plastic is added to a sample to verify if the analytical procedure can accurately recover the same amount.

Roger Kuhlman

A chemist formerly at the Dow Chemical Company who described the mounting doubts in microplastic research as a bombshell.

Doctor Cassandra Rowett

A chemist at the University of Queensland who identified that analytical failures are a problem for the entire field of microplastics.

Deutsches Arzblatt

The journal of the German Medical Association which stated that there is currently a lack of reliable information on the distribution of microplastics in the body.

In vitro studies

Laboratory-based studies outside of a living organism that have shown the potential for microplastics to cause cellular harm.