Are We Breathing in Microplastics?

An environmental health expert has raised the possibility that microplastics could be infiltrating our airwaves and being inhaled by humans and animals in microscopic amounts. Professor Frank Kelly of King’s College London posited the theory at a meeting of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) last month, calling for further research to be conducted into the potentially negative effects of inhaling the plastics.

“A horizon-scanning issue”

Professor Kelly suggested that microplastics could commingle into the air during the process of sludge destruction and recycling. Currently, sewage sludge is spread onto fields to act as a soil enricher and fertiliser, but as it dries out, Kelly fears the process could lead to microplastics evaporating into the air. Research into sustainable methods of sludge destruction and use as an energy source are ongoing.

“There is a possibility, a real possibility, that some of those microparticles will be entrained into the air, and they will be carried around and we will end up breathing them. This is a horizon-scanning issue but the particles are of a size that they are [breathable], they are increasing in number in our environment and there is a question to be asked,” explained Professor Kelly.

“If we breathe them in they could potentially deliver chemicals to the lower parts of our lungs and maybe even across into our circulation, in the same way as we worry about all the other vehicle-related emissions.”

Inhaling or ingesting?

Over the past couple of years, there have been increased concerns that the growing amount of plastic entering the oceans of the world is permeating the food chain. As more and more fish absorb the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans, the likelihood that such plastic will find its way onto our plate gets bigger and bigger.

Ingesting plastic has had devastating effects on wildlife. After fish and other creatures mistake it for food, they consume it and destroy their stomachs, which can’t break it down nor glean any nutrients from it. The relatively low amount which would find its way into the human body is not believed to be seriously life-threatening – but should still be addressed.

However, according to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), inhaling it could pose a far more damaging risk. “Even for high level consumers of seafoods that are most likely to be relatively highly contaminated with marine microplastics, dietary exposure to microplastic particles is likely to be relatively low compared with inhalation of microplastics,” DEFRA wrote to the EAC.   

Microbeads another concern

Though consumption of plastics might be negligible in comparison to its inhalation, the effect on marine life should not be ignored – especially when a solution is at hand. One such solution involves the phasing out of microbeads, which are tiny pieces of plastic used in cosmetics and toiletries such as toothpaste, shower gel and face wash.

Though microplastics comprise only a small part of the plastic in our oceans, there is no reason why they can’t be banned outright. Indeed, a blanket ban on microbeads was passed in the US under the Obama administration earlier this year. Environmentalists have been campaigning for the UK to follow suit, and if polls are to be trusted, the public are behind the petition.

In April, a nationwide poll found that two thirds of the British public would back a ban on the substance, while Greenpeace has set up an online petition which has so far garnered over 320,000 signatures.