The microplastics menace: An emerging link to environment and health

摘要

I read with great interest, "An assessment of the toxicity of polypropylene microplastics in human derived cells" by Hwang and colleagues in Volume 684(Hwang et al., 2019). The authors showed that polypropylene microplastics which can enter the human body by food, water, or inhalation can adversely affect peripheral blood mononuclear cells both directly and via cytokine release with resulting cascades. Plastics pollution usually invokes imagery of beached whales regurgitating shopping bags, but seldom infinitesimal contaminants in our reservoirs and atmosphere. Invisible to the naked eye, they contribute to the environment as well as health, and must be curtailed before an inevitable breaking point.