In recent years, the conversation around plastic pollution has escalated, with images of plastic-ridden oceans and wildlife becoming all too common. However, a new frontier in this environmental crisis is emerging, one that hits closer to home: the presence of microplastics in the human brain.
A new study has brought to light that microplastics have been found in human brains for the first time. The research, which analyzed 51 samples from routine autopsies in Albuquerque, New Mexico, revealed that these tiny plastic shards are not just a threat to our ecosystems but have infiltrated our very bodies.
“The concentrations we saw in the brain tissue of normal individuals, who had an average age of around 45 or 50 years old, were 4,800 micrograms per gram, or 0.5 per cent by weight,” said lead study author Matthew Campen, a regents’ professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Researchers were said to be shocked by the finding.
To put the results into a more impactful human perspective, Campen said, “Compared to autopsy brain samples from 2016, that’s about 50 per cent higher. That would mean that our brains today are 99.5 per cent brain and the rest is plastic.”
Microplastics, typically defined as plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters, are a byproduct of our global reliance on plastic. These particles can come from various sources, including the breakdown of larger plastic items, synthetic fibers from clothing, and even from the air we breathe. Their small size allows them to bypass the body’s natural defenses and accumulate in organs, including the brain.
The implications of this are profound. The study found that brain samples contained up to 30 times more microplastics than other organs such as the liver and kidneys. This could be due to the brain’s high blood flow or its limited cellular renewal, which might cause plastics to linger longer.
Phoebe Stapleton, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, who was not part of the study, suggests that “It is unclear if, in life, these particles are fluid, entering and leaving the brain, or if they collect in neurological tissues and promote disease.”
What’s more alarming is the increase in the levels of plastic found in the brain—about 50% higher than samples collected in 2016. This uptick mirrors the rise in environmental plastic pollution and suggests that our exposure to these particles is growing with time.
While the study has yet to be peer-reviewed, its findings have sparked a necessary conversation about the potential health implications of microplastics. The brain’s complex structure and function make it vulnerable to external toxins, and the long-term effects of microplastic accumulation remain largely unknown. Stapleton suggests, “Further research is needed to understand how the particles may be interacting with the cells and if this has a toxicological consequence.”
Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good and the Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College, takes a more pragmatic view. “It’s important not to scare the hell out of people, because the science in this space is still evolving, and nobody in the year 2024 is going to live without plastic,” he stated. “I say to people, ‘Listen, there are some plastics that you can’t escape. You’re not going to get a cell phone or a computer that doesn’t contain plastic.’ But do try to minimize your exposure to the plastic that you can avoid, such as plastic bags and bottles,” he advises.
