Microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic made by larger pieces degrading and breaking apart, have made their way into our fruits and vegetables now. Last year’s research found that we may be eating a credit card worth of plastic a week, but this new study with the products shows that we’re likely consuming even more than that. Campaigners are, therefore, urging to know more about the health implications of microplastics in food.
We thought it was terrible when they were finding microplastics in our oceans, the alps, and even pristine regions of the arctic, but seeing it in carrots and apples is outright frightening. A second study found that microplastics can be absorbed by the roots of wheat crops and lettuce, then transported to the rest of the edible part of the plant. A third study found that the nano plastics absorbed by plant roots can block the roots from adequately absorbing water and prevent the plant from growing correctly.
The first study was conducted by researchers from the University of Catania in Italy, as well as Sousse and Monastir universities in Tunisia. They analyzed a variety of most commonly consumed fruits and vegetables: lettuce, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, pears, and apples.
The researchers wrote:
We can hypothesize that the fruits contain more MPs not only because of the very high vascularization of the fruit pulp but also due to the greater size and complexity of the root system and age of the tree (several years) compared to the vegetables (60–75 days for the carrot). Also, the carrot has small, microscopic hairs on the outside of the epidermis of the central root; these serve to increase the surface area of the root, but survive for only a few days.
The research is particularly alarming because it’s the first to show microplastics inside fresh produce. They have been found in beer, bottled water, milk, sea salt, shellfish and fish, and sugar already too. The founder of the Plastic Soup Foundation, Maria Westerbossaid, commented on the study in a press release:
This is the first time we have known about plastic getting into vegetables. If it is getting into vegetables, it is getting into everything that eats vegetables, which means it is in our meat and dairy as well. What we need to find out now is what this is doing to us. This is unchartered territory. Does plastic make us sick?
The second study was by researchers at the Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research in China, and Leiden University in the Netherlands. They found that lettuce and wheat crops can take in microplastics from the surrounding soil and water through cracks in their roots.
Researchers at Shandong University in China conducted the third study. They analyzed the ability of thale cress to absorb plastic in a lab setting to monitor what effects it had on the plant’s growth and genetic makeup. They found the particles can clog the plant roots stunting the growth of seedlings.
Co-author Xian-Zheng Yuan, a professor at Shandong University in Jinan, China, wrote in an email to Earther:
Terrestrial plants form the base of many food chains. Hence, nanoplastic accumulation in plants might have implications on other trophic levels, which could pose a potential risk to food yield, quality, and safety.
All these studies present the dire situation of today’s plastic pollution crisis. While the impacts on human health are still unknown, the concerns are real. The best way to reduce exposure is for the world to reduce its dependence on the material, so less of it makes its way into the environment.
