microplastics

Scientists know our bodies are full of microplastics. What are they doing to us?

11:35am December 18, 2024

Plastic particles are found in our organs, blood and even semen. But do they stay in us forever? What damage are they doing? Here are six questions scientists are trying to answer.

Researchers have detected microplastics in human testicles.

Plastic junk? Researchers find tiny particles in men's testicles

11:44am May 22, 2024

by Will Stone

The new study has scientists concerned that microplastics may be contributing to reproductive health issues.

A registered scavenger, who mainly collects plastic waste to sell, walking in a landfill in Indonesia.

Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf

2:53pm February 15, 2024

by Michael Copley

Recycling "does not solve the solid waste problem," the head of a plastics trade group said in 1989, around the time the industry was launching its recycling campaign.

Nuts and dried fruit items at a grocery store.

She tried to avoid plastic while grocery shopping for a week. Here's how it went

5:00am July 02, 2022

by Martha Bebinger

Worried about the proliferation of plastic trash in the environment and her own body, a journalist tried to shop plastic-free for 7 days. She found plastic in a lot of sneaky and surprising places.

Plastic debris is washed up at Depoe Bay, Ore., on Jan. 19, 2020.

For the first time, researchers find microplastics deep in the lungs of living people

3:03pm April 06, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

Tiny plastic debris — some so small you can't see it — has previously been found in human blood, excrement and in the depths of the ocean.

Study: Plastic Baby Bottles Shed Microplastics When Heated. Should You Be Worried?

6:43pm October 19, 2020

by Maria Godoy

The implications for a child's health are not yet known. The study's authors urge people not to panic — and stress the need for more research.

In addition to large plastic trash, researchers estimate that more than 21 million metric tons of tiny plastic debris are floating below the Atlantic Ocean's surface.

The Atlantic Is Awash With Far More Plastic Than Previously Thought, Study Finds

7:07pm August 20, 2020

by Rebecca Hersher

A new study suggests there is far more plastic in the Atlantic Ocean than scientists estimated earlier, especially tiny pieces of plastic that can end up inside fish and other animals.

A water sample taken from the Mediterranean Sea as part of a scientific study about microplastics damaging marine ecosystems on the French Riviera in 2018. In a new study, the WHO says that microplastics are "ubiquitous."

WHO Study Finds No Evidence Of Health Concerns From Microplastics In Drinking Water

11:03am August 22, 2019

by Scott Neuman

The World Health Organization says that the tiny particles of plastic found everywhere in the environment do not appear to pose any significant risk to human health.

Trash sent for recycling moves along a conveyor belt to be sorted at Waste Management's material recovery facility in Elkridge, Md. In 2018, China announced it would no longer buy most plastic waste from places like the United States.

U.S. Recycling Industry Is Struggling To Figure Out A Future Without China

8:10pm August 20, 2019

by Christopher Joyce

China is no longer taking the world's waste. The U.S. recycling industry is overwhelmed — it can't keep up with the plastic being churned out. This doesn't bode well for our plastic waste problem.

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The deep ocean is filled with sea creatures like giant larvaceans. They're actually the size of tadpoles, but they're surrounded by a yard-wide bubble of mucus that collects food — and plastic.

Microplastics Have Invaded The Deep Ocean — And The Food Chain

4:46pm June 06, 2019

by Christopher Joyce

Giant gyres of plastic in the ocean grab headlines, but it's the tiny bits of plastic that scare scientists. And they've made their way everywhere, a new study finds — including in our seafood.