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Micro / Nano Plastics (MNPs)... They Are Getting Into Everything, Including You

By Dr. Eric Topol

• https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-microplastic-concerns-elevateto

Last March a landmark prospective study of microplastics found nearly 60% of patients undergoing an artery operation (carotid endarterectomy) 58% had microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in their plaque. Their presence was linked to a subsequent 4.5 -fold increase of the composite of all-cause mortality, heart attack and stroke. I reviewed it in a previous Ground Truths here. An important quote from Philip Landrigan, who wrote the NEJM editorial on the publication :The finding of microplastics and nanoplastics in [atherosclerotic] plaque tissue is itself a breakthrough discovery that raises a series of urgent questions.”

More recently, in October, Richard Thompson and colleagues wrote a review of 20-years of microplastic pollution research in Science. A summary graphic, shown below, did not include the brain as one of the organs where microplastics are found in the body (although previously noted in some studies). I’ve added that in as a result of a new study published today in Nature Medicine...

MNPS have now been found in nearly every organ in the body. That includes placenta (below), lymph nodes, as well as testes and semen. A multi-center study from China showed microplastics were present in the semen and urine of all 113 men assessed and were associated with reduced sperm count and semen quality The CDC data indicate they are likely present in the bodies of all Americans.

MNPs are pervasive in our air and water, there’s currently an annual output of 400 million tons of plastics, and the burden of MNPs is expected to double by 2040 if nothing is done to change course.

References:

• https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2309822

• https://erictopol.substack.com/p/theres-plastic-in-my-plaque

• https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2400683

• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl2746

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03453-1

• https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(24)00405-5/fulltext

• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl2746

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