It is the first time it is found nanoplastic contamination at the poles of the EarthNanoplastic pollution is made up of tiny particles, called nanoplastics, which includes tire dust. It's astonishing that global plastic pollution has been found in ice core samples from 50 years ago. For more information on the impact of plastic on the planet, you can check out our article on the platycocene.
Nanoplastic contamination found in both polar regions
This is the first time nanoplastic pollution has been detected in polar regions. This suggests that these tiny particles are now found worldwide. Nanoparticles are much smaller than microplastics. However, their toxicity is generally much higher. However, the effects of both nanoplastics and microplastics on human health are unclear.
Analysis of the core of the Greenland ice sheet shows that nanoplastic pollution has polluted remote areas for at least 50 years. The researchers were also surprised to discover that a quarter of the particles came from car tires. Nanoparticles have a very low density, so they are thought to have been brought to Greenland by winds from cities in North America and Asia. Nanoplastics found in sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, are likely being carried to remote continents by ocean currents.
Scientists reported on Jan. 18 that plastic is part of a chemical pollution mix that has permeated the planet beyond safe limits for humans. Plastic pollution has been found from the top of Mount Everest to the depths of the ocean. People are known to eat and breathe microplastics without being aware of it, and another recent study found that these particles can cause damage to human cells. Dušan Materić of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who led the new study, said they had detected nanoplastics in the remotest corners of the planet, including Antarctica and the Arctic. Nanoplastics compared to microplastics are very active, so this is quite relevant.
Nanoplastic pollution: nothing new in this century
Greenland ice cores have 14 depth meters and represent layers of snow dating back to the year 1965Materić says what really surprised him wasn't that they found nanoplastics there, but that they were detected throughout the ice core. Although nanoplastics have been considered a new pollutant, they've actually been around for decades. Microplastics have already been found in Arctic ice, but Materić's team had to develop new detection methods to analyze smaller nanoparticles. Previous work also suggested that tire wear dust may be a major source of microplastics in the ocean, and the new study provides evidence that this is happening globally.
Where do nanoplastics come from?
In Greenland, half of the nanoplastics are polyethylene (PE), which is used in plastic bags and packaging created for single use. A quarter are tire granules and a fifth is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in beverage bottles and clothesThis fact is directly related to the worrying pollution we are witnessing.
In recent years, the countless amounts of plastic in the oceans have become apparent. According to a study, the main source of plastics is disposable wipes, takeaway food and drink packaging. Half of the nanoplastics in Antarctic ice are also PE, but polypropylene is the second most common, used in food containers and pipes. No tire particles were found in Antarctica, far from populated areas. The researchers sampled only the center of the ice core to avoid contamination, and tested their system with a control sample of pure water.
Previous research has found plastic nanoparticles in UK rivers, North Atlantic seawater and Siberian lakes, and snow in the Austrian Alps. Mattridge notes that, at the time, it was assumed that hotspots were the continents where people live. To better understand how these pollution situations form, you can read about the northern lights which also reflect the relationship between the environment and our activities.
Adverse health effects
Nanoplastics exhibit various adverse effects on living organisms. Human exposure to nanoplastics can cause respiratory and intestinal cytotoxicity and inflammation. Right now Mattridge's team is on a research assignment where they first have to accurately assess the level of contamination and then assess the situation we find ourselves in. Although there are still many questions to answer.
Research into the health effects of plastic pollution is starting and Dr Fay Couceiro is leading a new group on microplastics at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Her first project, in collaboration with Portsmouth University NHS Hospital, will investigate the presence of microplastics in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. The study led by Dr. Fay Couceiro will investigate whether recently carpeted or vacuumed rooms, which can have high levels of fibers in the air, could trigger the condition in patients. What began as an assessment of the environmental damage caused by plastics has triggered a growing concern about the effects that inhaling and ingesting microplastics can produce in our bodies.
His recent research suggests that people can breathe between 2000 and 7000 microplastics in their homes every day. Professor Anoop Jivan Chauhan, NHS Respiratory Specialist at Portsmouth Hospital College, suggests these figures are truly staggering. Each one of us we can inhale or swallow up to 1,8 million microplastics every year, and once in the body, it is difficult to imagine that they do not cause irreversible damage.
