How microplastics are infiltrating the food you eat

Plastic pollution is one of the defining legacies of our modern way of life, but it is now so widespread it is even finding its way into fruit and vegetables as they grow.

 Microplastic Is Everywhere and It's Sneaking Into Our Bodies

New research shows plastic pollution isn’t limited to the ocean and landfills. It’s all around us and people are eating and drinking it.

 Microplastics are everywhere — but are they harmful?

Scientists are rushing to study the tiny plastic specks that are in marine animals — and in us.

 Microplastics are everywhere. Here’s what that means for our health

The impacts to our bodies remain murky, but early findings suggest the smallest bits could cause harm.

 The secret to longer-lasting clothes will also reduce plastic pollution

Microplastics are a major threat, and a prime source is your washing machine.

It’s on our plates and in our poo, but are microplastics a health risk?

The omnipresent plastic is rife in dust, rice, placentas and tap water, but experts say it’s hard to untangle whether it’s harmful to humans.

A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health

The distribution and abundance of microplastics into the world are so extensive that many scientists use them as key indicators of the recent and contemporary period defining a new historical epoch: The Plasticene.

Americans Eat and Inhale Over 70,000 Plastic Particles Each Year According to a New Analysis

Plastics have for years been used to make nearly everything that surrounds us. But along the way, they escaped the confines of packaging and objects and settled in the environment, the food we eat and the air we breathe.

Here’s how you eat a credit card’s worth of plastic each week

People across the world unwittingly consume roughly 5 grams of plastic each week in the course of daily life, or about the weight of a credit card, according to Australian researchers. That’s about 250 grams per year—more than a half-pound of plastic every 12 months.

Microplastics are in the air we breathe and in Earth’s atmosphere, and they affect the climate

Microplastics are found in the most remote places on land and in the ocean as well as in our food. Now several studies around the world have confirmed they are also present in the air we breathe.

Microplastics aren’t just a problem for the ocean – they’re in our soils too

Microplastic pollution is best known as a pollutant in oceans, lakes and rivers. But microplastics also have an impact on land: they can break down the structure of soil and harm the creatures that live there, for example when it is ingested by earth worms.

Microplastics have moved into virtually every crevice on Earth

A collection of new research provides more clues about where and how microplastics are spreading.

Microplastics in household dust could promote antibiotic resistance

Polyester and nylon seem to be common sources.

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

Microplastics are tiny fragments of plastic, often too small for the eye to see. They're created as plastic degrades. And they're everywhere. They're in oceans, thanks to plastic garbage. They're in fish. They find their way into the water we drink in various ways, from surface runoff and wastewater effluent to particles deposited from the atmosphere.

The problem with all the plastic that’s leaching into your food

There’s mounting evidence that it’s a health hazard.

The Tiny Plastics in Your Clothes Are Becoming a Big Problem

Microfibers from synthetic clothing can make their way into seafood and drinking water every time the garments are washed.

There Is Plastic In Your Fish

Fish is high in Omega-3 fatty acids which are essential fats, meaning the body cannot produce them on its own and they must be sourced from the food we eat. Omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial to heart health, are instrumental in preventing stroke and may help control a host of other health conditions. However, the flip side of eating more fish is a tiny problem 5 millimeters or less in diameter: microplastics.

We Were Missing Most of the Plastic in the Ocean

The highest levels of microplastics are found more than 650 feet below the surface.

What Is In Your Tea? How About Billions Of Microplastics

What would you like with your tea? How about some honey? Perhaps some milk? Maybe a lemon twist? What about billions and billions of micro- and nano-sized plastic particles?

Where’s Airborne Plastic? Everywhere, Scientists Find

There’s “no nook or cranny” on the planet where it doesn’t end up, the lead researcher on a new study said.

You’re Literally Sprinkling Plastic On Your Food

The problem of plastic pollution can seem really removed from everyday life—until you realize you’re literally sprinkling plastic onto your food. A new study that tested 39 different salt brands from around the world identified microplastics in 36 of them, or 92 percent. It’s a stark reminder of how our addiction to single-use plastics is leaching into our ecosystems.