A growing body of scientific evidence shows that microplastics accumulate in human organs, including the brain, prompting researchers to call for more urgent action to curb plastic pollution.
Microplastics also accumulate in the brain PHOTOS Shuterstock
According to The Guardian, twenty-four brain samples collected in early 2024 measured an average of about 0.5% plastic by weight. Studies have detected small fragments and patches of plastic in human lungs, placenta, reproductive organs, liver, kidneys, knee and elbow joints, blood vessels and bone marrow.
“Given the research findings it is now imperative to declare a global emergency to tackle plastic pollution”said Sedat Gündoğdu, who studies microplastics at Cukurova University in Turkey.
Humans are exposed to microplastics – defined as fragments smaller than 5mm in diameter – and the chemicals used to make plastic due to widespread plastic pollution in air, water and even food.
There are currently no government standards for plastic particles in food or water in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency is working on guidelines for measuring them and has been awarding grants since 2018 to develop new ways to rapidly detect and quantify them.
Finding microplastics in more and more human organs ‘raises a lot of concern’, given what we know about health effects in animals, studies on human cells in the laboratory and emerging epidemiological studies. It’s scary, I’d say,” said Bethanie Carney Almroth, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
In one of the most recent studies to emerge—a paper being posted online by the National Institutes of Health—researchers found a particularly troubling accumulation of microplastics in brain samples.
According to the cited publication, after examining the livers, kidneys and brains of the autopsied corpses, it was found that they all contained microplastics, but the 91 brain samples contained, on average, 10 to 20 times more than the other organs. The results were a shock, according to the study’s lead author, Matthew Campen, a toxicologist and professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico.
What the study revealed
The researchers found that 24 of the brain samples, which were collected in early 2024, measured an average of about 0.5 percent plastic by weight.
“It’s quite alarming. There is much more plastic in our brains than I would have ever imagined or realized“said the researcher.
The study describes the right brain “one of the most plastic-polluted tissues ever sampled.”
Campen’s preprinted brain study also suggested a troubling connection. In the study, researchers analyzed 12 brain samples from people who died of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. These brains contained up to 10 times more plastic by weight than healthy samples.
“I don’t know how much more plastic our brains can stuff without it causing problems,” said Matthew Campen, a toxicologist and professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico.
Another recent paper, which analyzed 45 patients undergoing hip or knee surgery in Beijing, China, found microplastics in the membranous mucosa of every hip or knee joint examined.
