A few months ago, autopsy reports revealed that microplastics are seen in humans' internal organs that they have most likely ingested. Another study also suggests that microplastics have become airborne, wherein a person on average could inhale up to 11 microplastics per hour.
Recently a new study revealed that researchers had found microplastics inside the placenta. A piece of shocking evidence that the 21st-century human can be born into a world covered with a fine dust of petrochemical waste, according to ScienceAlert.
The researchers collected placentas from six mothers living in a plastic-free environment. They found 12 small pieces of colored plastics that are 5 to 10 micrometers in size from four of the placentas they examined.
They noted that four of the fragments were found close to the mother's side of the placenta, while five of them were found embedded in the fine membrane that forms the amniotic fluid. Although it might not look much, the researchers only removed a part of the placenta for analysis, which means that more microplastics might be present in the whole placenta.
Placenta: The Protector of the Fetus, Or Is It Not?
The millions of years of evolution have led to the aggregation of complex tissues to isolate a growing life at its most crucial development stage. It filters pathogens and other hazardous elements from the mother's bloodstream while also permitting nutrients to enter, as well as antibodies and oxygen.
Aside from that, the placenta that serves as a wall of protection is also made up of diverse and dynamic systems managed by hormones and biochemical reactions.
However, it seems that microplastics are not safe after scientists discovered some petrochemical wastes inside them. Whether intrusive microplastics pose great health risks or not is not yet clear and more research is needed before any conclusions can be made.
Cyborg Babies of the 21st Century
The placenta's microplastics analysis showed that the plastics were about 10 microns in size or about 0.1 millimeters. They are small enough to enter the bloodstream and carried into the different parts of the body, which could also enter the babies while inside their mothers. But researchers are yet unable to assess this, The Guardian reported.
"It is like having a cyborg baby: no longer composed only of human cells, but a mixture of biological and inorganic entities," said study lead author and director of obstetrics and gynecology at the San Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli hospital in Rome, Antonio Ragusa. "The mothers were shocked."
Moreover, the researchers said that the possible effects of microplastics on the fetuses include reduced fetal growth. A 2019 study suggests that the microsize carbon "soot" can be inhaled by mothers, which can also be transferred to the placenta where the fetus is.
"Babies are being born pre-polluted. The microplastics were very small but nevertheless flags a very worrying concern," said chemicals charity Chem Trust's Elizabeth Salter Green.
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