Microplastics: Their Effects on Society & Our War on Them

[TSH]

For the past couple of months, I've been agonizing about these little plastic particles that are in every single continent in the world. In every single country in the world. In the dirt we walk on. In the food we eat. In the air we even breathe. Very, very concerning.

It helps to explain these microplastics to the uninitiated: these tiny fragments of plastics are bits, debris, or leftovers of larger plastic particles. True to their name, they are plastic material less than five millimeters in size (meaning they're just almost completely invisible to the naked eye), but there are even smaller "nanoplastics", ranging 1 to 1000 nanometers across; this type is especially worrying because they're small enough find their way into cells. What makes these plastics a huge concern for human health and the environment is that plastic was created to last. It could take a decade, century, or even an entire millennium for the material to fully degrade, depending on the type of plastic and the factors in which decomposition happens.

It should be noted that this research first stared in 2004, and scientists are still trying to fully understand the extent of how harmful it is to human health. It's already been documented that they can have adverse to reproduction, due to amounts being reported to be found in genitalia. Since plastic is known to carry pollutants and chemicals into the water, all types of marine life actively swim and digest the stuff, and it cycles throughout the food chain.

Here are some links to pick your brains over:
https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articl ... everywhere
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9920460/
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2024/02/42716 ... cs-dangers

Let's try to add more discussion to this, shall we?

[denimini]

Yes another ticking time bomb. Easily created and near impossible to undo. I try to avoid plastic fibres in skirts and other clothes.

[Bill]

Are those Nano plastics what they put in the chemtrails that airplanes are spreading all over the sky?

[Myopic Bookworm]

Are those Nano plastics what they put in the chemtrails that airplanes are spreading all over the sky?

No, they're different, because unlike the ones in the chemtrails, scientists can detect them.

[Jim]

Are those Nano plastics what they put in the chemtrails that airplanes are spreading all over the sky?

The chemtrails are dihydrogen monoxide, a dangerous chemical that kills many people every year.

[Seb]

Are those Nano plastics what they put in the chemtrails that airplanes are spreading all over the sky?

The chemtrails are dihydrogen monoxide, a dangerous chemical that kills many people every year.

It's mostly dangerous when you get it into your lungs though. It's safe to touch and drink.

[Bill]

Chemtrails? Maybe - maybe not. But I'm thinking about having this installed in my small airplane (or not).

chemtrail-switch-spoof.jpg

LOL

[Modoc]

In all seriousness, I wonder if this is on RFK's radar as he seeks to find the root cause of what seems to be an Autism epidemic. He seems pretty sure that it's environmental.

[Midas]

In all seriousness, I wonder if this is on RFK's radar as he seeks to find the root cause of what seems to be an Autism epidemic. He seems pretty sure that it's environmental.

Over diagnosis is the probable cause of that.

[Modoc]

In all seriousness, I wonder if this is on RFK's radar as he seeks to find the root cause of what seems to be an Autism epidemic. He seems pretty sure that it's environmental.

Over diagnosis is the probable cause of that.

I don't disagree, especially since it seems to be 4 times as prevalent in males as in females. I don't have any theories of my own, but it will be interesting to see where this is going.

[crfriend]

I don't disagree, especially since it seems to be 4 times as prevalent in males as in females. I don't have any theories of my own, but it will be interesting to see where this is going.

In years gone by, it used to be considered a case of parenting failure -- an inability of the mother and father to properly educate their child in how to interact with the world.

But that was in a time when the parents actually interacted with their children. Now they don't because both have to work 2 or 3 McJobs just to keep the candle burning at one end. The children fall by the wayside and don't get the attention that they need. In short, "It's the economy, stupid!!', fix that then other things will begin to resolve by themselves. But that is just a pipe-dream and has zero probability to happen within my lifetime. I am SO glad I never had children.

[Myopic Bookworm]

In all seriousness, I wonder if this is on RFK's radar as he seeks to find the root cause of what seems to be an Autism epidemic. He seems pretty sure that it's environmental.

It seems to be utter confusion from someone who gets their information from the wrong places.

There is some evidence that characteristic behaviours of ADHD can be exacerbated by certain chemicals. It seems most improbable that either ADHD or autism can be "caused" by environmental agents: they seem too strongly heritable for that to be credible.

There is no autism epidemic. Severely disabling autism just used to be called by different (usually derogatory) names, and high-functioning autists were simply treated as weird or eccentric.

[robehickman]

In all seriousness, I wonder if this is on RFK's radar as he seeks to find the root cause of what seems to be an Autism epidemic. He seems pretty sure that it's environmental.

This whole statement is misinformation. Autism is a different 'neyrotype', in a sense a different 'operating system'. It is genetic and a completely normal variation within the human species. Please look up 'monotropism'.

That there appears to be an 'epidemic' is related to people getting better at detecting it, not any increase in its prevalence.

Humans are biologically evolved animals created through natural selection. It is completely expected that different individuals will evolve different mental processes, and ways of operating within the world. Any notion that all people should think in exactly the same way is insane and absurd.

Neurodivergance has connection with independent thought, and it is probable that many of the people on this forum are undiagnosed neurodivergent.

[Modoc]

I don't know what is driving RFK's agenda, and, like I said, the results of any studies that the current administration releases will surely be slanted and biased to include many unsupportable pseudo-scientific claims and promote a lot of conspiracy theories that are already popular in a segment of US society.