everything you wanted to know about Microplastics, but were afraid to ask!

As promised, everything you wanted to know about #Microplastics (but were afraid to ask!), can be found in the book and webinar below!

The book is called, “A Poison Like No Other - How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies”, by Matt Simon, a science journalist with the magazine, WIRED. To get a copy 👉  https://lnkd.in/eSFcspe9. 

This well written book is based on science based, data driven research material (58 page bibliography for 169 pages of text!), which explores in great detail the sources, scale, and all encompassing extent of Microplastic Emissions, before dealing with the disturbing potential human health risks associated with Microplastics and their chemical components. 

Matt explains how and why we are finding Microplastics in large quantities....literally everywhere! At the bottom of the Ocean, on the top of the highest Swiss mountains, at the North Pole, South Pole, in plankton, in fish, in animals, in soil, in plants, in food.... And then, unsurprisingly, why they have been now been found in our blood, in the deepest parts of our lungs, even reaching our brains.  

The answer to the all important "So what?!" question relates to not just the possible negative impact of the Microplastics themselves, but also the three classes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, that are found in plastic - bisphenols, phthalates, and PFAS. While these chemicals give plastic rigidity, flexibility, water resistance, etc., those EDCs are also proven causes of human health problems from anxiety and depression, to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular risks, cancers and reduced fertility. The PFAS are known as "Forever Chemicals" because they don't break down in the environment!

Matt finishes with a chapter on possible solutions, with the principal conclusion being the need to reduce plastic production and use, and the requirement for regulatory intervention, given the nature and scale of the heavy industries involved.  

If you haven't time to read the book, you can watch the excellent Ocean Conservancy webinar below, moderated by one of the leading global figures in Microplastics research, Dr. Chelsea Rochman, a professor at University of Toronto, in discussion with Matt Simon, and Ocean Conservancy Microplastics and Policy experts, Britta Baechler, Ph.D., and Anja Malawi Brandon, PhD.


The good news is that Regulation is coming, at both EU and UN levels. And there are solutions, like Pinovo's stopping Paint Microplastics, and Matter.'s washing machine filters collecting textile Microplastics. 

​A lot done...a lot more to do!