Everyday fruits and vegetables like carrots, lettuces and apples are contaminated with tiny particles of plastic and should be a cause for “considerable concern” among public health experts, scientists say.
Researchers from the University of Catania in Italy discovered apples are among the most contaminated fruits, while carrots are the most affected vegetables.
The team studied plastic contamination in carrots, lettuces, broccoli, potatoes, apples, and pears. They concluded microplastics were “abundant” in the fresh food.
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Fruits were more highly contaminated than vegetables, likely because fruit trees are older with deeper, more established root systems, they said.
Although the scientists found fewer plastic particles in fruits and vegetables studied than in the water from a plastic bottle, they still described their findings as cause for “considerable concern”.
“Based on the results obtained it is urgent important to perform toxicological and epidemiological studies to investigate for the possible effects of microplastics on human health,” the study – published this week in the journal Environmental Research – warns.
Entry via the roots
Meanwhile a separate research team has proved for the first time that lettuce and wheat plants absorb microscopic plastic particles through their roots.
Water contaminated by microplastics can travel up a plant’s roots and into the shoots, the scientists discovered.
Their findings upend previous scientific assumptions that plastic particles – even the tiniest ones – are too large to pass through plant tissue.
Root vegetables such as carrots, radishes and turnips are most vulnerable to high levels of contamination, the scientists said, chiming with the findings of the University of Catania study.
The study was a joint project between the Leiden University in the Netherlands and the Yanthai Institute of Coastal Zone Research in China. It is to be published in the journal Nature Sustainability.
Urgent research required
Microplastics both absorb and give off chemicals and harmful pollutants. But little is known about their impact on human health, particularly if they are breathed in or eaten.
Professor Willie Peijnenburg, co-author of the Leiden University study, warned urgent research is needed. “The presence of microplastics in crop plants could potentially increase the direct exposure of humans to plastic associated chemicals,” he told i. “There is an urgent need to reduce plastic consumption and also to collect data on the impact of microplastic particles in the food chain on human health.”
His concerns were echoed by campaigners. “What we need to find out now is what this is doing to us. This is unchartered territory. Does plastic make us sick?” asked Maria Westerbos, founder of the Plastic Soup Foundation.
Sian Sutherland, co-founder of the campaign group A Plastic Planet, called for an urgent investigation into the impact of plastics on human health, calling on policymakers to “listen to the scientists”.
Plastic pollution is everywhere
It seems everywhere scientists look, microplastics are turning up. Scientists have found particles in our rivers, seas, and the very deepest parts of our oceans. Plastic has turned up in the French Pyrenees, in Antarctic sea ice, in the polluted air swirling around our cities.
Unsurprisingly then, that it is entering the food chain. Birds are eating insects stuffed with plastic, shellfish are scooping it up instead of plankton.
Humans are also unwittingly eating and drinking the stuff. Bottled water is a major culprit, but it’s also been found in soft drinks, tap water, and even packaged sea salt. Plastic wrapping and plastic tubs shed particles onto food, and of course, we are eating the fish that are eating the plastic in the ocean. One study suggests the average American eats the equivalent of a credit card of plastic every week.
In 2018 scientists found microplastics in human stools for the first time, strongly suggesting plastic is now a common element in the human diet. The study analysed the faeces from participants in Japan, Russia and Europe, and traces of plastic were found in all of them. The team think more than half of the world’s population have plastic in their poo.
June 26, 2020 at 06:01AM
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Carrots, apples and lettuces are contaminated with microplastics, research finds - iNews
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