Earth Day battles plastic: The impact of dangerous microplastics on health
As we turn the corner into spring and our landscape comes back to life, it is the perfect time to celebrate Earth Day.
Earth day is celebrated every April 22 to raise awareness about protecting the environment.
Earth Day was created in 1970 in the United States and became recognized nationally in 1990. Since then, it has been an opportunity to raise awareness on changing climate and pollution by local and national leaders and environmental groups. The day puts a spotlight on environmentally focused groups to speak up and work to enact change at the political level.
This year's Earth Day theme is "Planet versus Plastics."
When plastics are discarded, they never truly disappear. Instead, they break down into smaller pieces, known as microplastics, and take centuries to become fully eliminated.
"The real dangers to humans are the microplastics. As plastic breaks down, it doesn't truly break down," said Aidan Charron, Director of End Plastic Initiatives at EarthDay.org. "It just gets smaller and smaller. When it is getting smaller and smaller, it is carrying all of the chemicals with it that give it its certain usability."
It takes a supermarket bag 20 years to break down fully. It takes a plastic water bottle an estimated 450 years, and a diaper 500 years.
Because these microplastics are left behind, it is estimated that an adult consumes the equivalent of one credit card of plastic each week!
Charron said endocrine issues are just one of the health issues that pop up from microplastic consumption.
He also said there are other studies currently being done about the impacts of perfluoro octane sulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid, commonly known as PFOS and PFOAS, on human health.
"They lead to increased cancer rates, and there also is more research coming out about both early onset puberty in children as well as issues with dementia. So there is a connection with those chemicals and dementia later in life," said Charron.
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According to scientists, the plastic industry produces up to five percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.
More than 50 countries are calling for the end of plastic pollution by 2040 because of its danger. Organizers of Earth Day are going a step further, calling for a 60 percent reduction in plastic production by the same year.
Scientists have identified fungi that are capable of breaking down plastic, but it is a slow process - slower than how fast we create it.
One organization locally is doing work to find alternative materials to plastics.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod has been studying what materials work best for straws.
"Somewhere around one hundred billion straws are produced daily in the United States. It's difficult to get a decent estimate about how much is thrown out the window, accidentally or not, but when they do beach clean ups it is one of the most abundant products picked up," said Christopher Reddy, Scientist at WHOI.
Reddy said the laboratory is currently studying different polymers that last for a far shorter time in the environment.
"So the goal is, can you make a straw that A, works. There is nothing more frustrating than when they put a new sustainable product in line and it doesn't work. And then if it happens to get released into the environment it lasts very short. We don't want people to throw them out the window, but if it does happen, we want it to be able to be attacked by nature relatively quickly," said Reddy.
As far as what we can do to protect ourselves and our families, officials say do a home audit on your plastic use. That means finding where you use the most plastic, and replacing them with more environmentally friendly ones.
Learn more from Meteorologist Christina Erne: