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DELMAINE DONSON
Plastic has long been a major source of pollution in landfills and in oceans, especially as it degrades into pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, termed “microplastics.” Experimental studies have shown that these particles and the cocktail of chemicals they carry can wreak havoc on physiology, reproduction, development, and behavior in a number of nonhuman species.
Scientists have found evidence that humans also drink, eat, and inhale tens of thousands of microplastics each year, and a study published today (October 19) in Nature Food estimates that babies may be ingesting up to 16 million microplastic particles per liter of baby formula prepared using a polypropylene bottle.
In our example, the microplastics are generated by the utensils you’re using during the food preparation process. There’s an immediacy to the presence of microplastics, and that’s a first.
The researchers followed the World Health Organization’s protocol for preparing baby formula ...
