Barbie, who travels from her shiny, pink plastic universe to the human world to discover herself, is a metaphor for finding life’s true purpose, albeit through Hollywood. But the danger comes not to Barbie from the wicked world; it is the other way around. Plastic dolls are produced using chemical fuels, which escalate global warming, contaminate the seas and endanger marine life.
Worse, new scientific discoveries have detected the plastic equivalent of bacteria—microplastics (MPs)—invading the human body and suspected to cause diseases such as cancer, and kidney and liver ailments. MPs are pieces less than five mm long, which takes 1,000 years to degrade. They are found almost everywhere on Earth: in the air, soil and food chain. They are buried in the Antarctic Sea ice; they litter remote beaches of the Virgin Islands; and there are around 24.4 trillion fragments of them polluting the upper regions of the world’s oceans.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Living Planet Report 2018, 90 per cent of the world’s seabirds carry plastic in their stomachs, which could go up to 99 per cent by 2050. A 2022 study pointed out that blue whales could be swallowing 10 million pieces of MPs every day. They are also deeply embedded in farmland, poisoning crops. Cardiff University researchers concluded that every year, 86 trillion to 710 trillion microplastic particles turn European farmlands toxic. They carry pathogens and stunt the growth of earthworms, which are natural soil revivers. “The effects (of MPs) on humans and other life forms are still being investigated. So much plastic is already broken down and polluting the environment. The true cost won’t be known until it is too late,” warns Steve Allen, a researcher at the Ocean Frontier Institute at Dalhousie University, Canada. The global cost of plastic-related health effects in 2022 was estimated at $100 billion a year by the Australian philanthropic organisation Minderoo Foundation.
Here are some startling facts about the deadly scourge.
Did you know that microplastics are already present in the human bloodstream? Dick Vethaak, emeritus professor of Water Quality and Health at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, studied blood samples from 22 healthy volunteers. He discovered that 80 per cent had MPs in their system. Half the samples had traces of PET plastic used in the production of bottles. More than one-third of the specimens contained polystyrene, used in disposable food containers. Vethaak’s study, published in the Environment International Journal in March 2022, showed that MPs can invade the human body by air, water and food, and even through toothpaste and cosmetics. “It is scientifically plausible that plastic particles may be transported to organs via the bloodstream,” he says. A study in May 2023 published in the Physics of Fluid Journal found that inhaled MPs collect in the nasal cavity or at the back of the throat.
Did you know that plastic is both a fecund habitat and a delivery system for marine microbes that carry harmful bacteria? Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) leaks additives like metals, dyes and stabilisers—added to improve plastic’s quality—into seawater. Genes of such PVC-loaded bacteria are more virulent to humans and resistant to antimicrobial drugs. They damage natural mechanisms that boost the host’s immune response; many of these germs were hitherto unknown pathogens.
Did you know that MPs have invaded human habitats across the world? Household dust is the main carrier. A global study found a large variety of synthetic polymer fibres in houses: polyester in clothes, polyamide used in textiles, polyvinyls in floor varnishes, polyurethane in furniture surface coatings and polyethylene in food containers and reusable bags. At most risk: children whose hands and feet have regular contact with the floor. They are likely to put their hands in their mouths often as well.
Did you know that Electric Vehicles (EV) pose a massive danger too? EV tyres produce 20 per cent more pollution than petroleum-powered vehicles, according to British research company Emissions Analytics—gasoline-fuelled cars under normal conditions shed around 73 mg/km from four new tyres, while comparable EVs flake off 88 mg/km. The International Union for Conservation of Nature places tyres as the second biggest source of marine microplastic pollution after textiles.
Did you know that MPs are endangering Indian soil safety? The National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Environment Ministry to intervene in the manufacture of products that generate microplastics, like textiles and cosmetics. In India, where waste disposal and treatment are insurmountable challenges, unplanned urban growth, burgeoning landfills and unsafe drinking water boost the microplastic explosion. A Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report submitted to the NGT warned that primary and secondary MPs carried by sewage, effluents from wastewater plants and surface runoffs were leaking through faulty pipes, leading to foul drinking water sources. Indian sewage treatment plants are not modern enough to totally eliminate MPs. Sewage sludge—the waste left over after cleaning municipal wastewater—is loaded with microplastics.
The Plastic Peril: Plastic use began in the 1950s. Since then, over 8.3 billion metric tonnes of it have been produced—half of which is in the last 13 years—as per a study published in the journal, Science Advances, in July 2017. Almost 80 per cent of this non-degradable product chokes landfills or is spread across the environment in many forms. Every year, over 500 billion new plastic bags are made, which counts to over a million a minute. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), half of all plastic produced is designed for single-use purposes. Every year, the earth’s water resources accumulate eight million tonnes of plastic waste, impacting the life of 700-odd species of marine wildlife.
Scientists across the world are concerned about human and environmental safety as technology pushes the moral and industrial envelope. One day, two research fellows at IIT Kharagpur, Ved Prakash Ranjan and Anuja Joseph, asked their mentor Prof. Sudha Goel whether it was safe to drink coffee in disposable paper cups, which are coated with a thin hydrophobic film. “She suggested we look into it,” says Ranjan, now senior project associate, waste reprocessing division, CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur. The study they published revealed that when exposed to hot water, the plastic film inside the paper cups deteriorates, releasing MPs into the water. “It was a big surprise. Drinking coffee in a paper cup isn’t completely safe,” he warns.
According to a 2021 UNEP report, global plastic production has risen exponentially in the last few decades: 400 million tonnes per year. Yet, only an estimated 12 per cent are incinerated and 9 per cent are recycled. Though the term ‘microplastic’ was coined in 2004 by British marine scientist Richard Thompson, the world woke up to its hazards only recently. Thompson was the first to describe the long-term accumulation properties of MPs after finding piles of rice-sized plastic bits above the tideline on a beach. Today, it is approximated that each person on the planet consumes more than 50,000 plastic particles a year—and more by inhalation.
An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report projects a three-fold growth in MPs by 2060, with around half of them ending up in landfills. In 2022, UN member states agreed to start negotiating a new treaty to end plastic pollution. In June this year, 170 countries consented to develop the first draft by November of what could become the first UN global treaty to curb plastic pollution by the end of 2024. “Most developing countries do not have adequate resources and infrastructure (sanitary landfills, incineration and waste treatment capacity) to tackle plastic pollution, resulting in its leakage into the world’s aquatic systems. Plastics are resistant to microbiological decay and degradation. The lifetime of plastic materials ranges from a few years to essentially forever,” says SWA Naqvi, former director, of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.
But there is no escaping plastic in modern living. The chemical Bisphenol A (BPA), which gives plastic its shape, structure, softness and flexibility, is ingested in large quantities through food or skin contact. BPA affects hormone levels and long-term exposure to industrial chemicals in plastics could cause obesity and diabetes. Then, there are the nano plastics: even tinier MPs degrade to a lower scale
(100 to 1,000 times smaller than a human blood cell). Be careful while eating root vegetables like carrots, radishes and turnips; leafy vegetables such as lettuce and cabbage don’t have that many nanoplastics.
Pervasive plastic: There is no aspect of life, big or small, that is unaffected by MPs. People who wear contact lenses are in peril too: researchers found that the MP count increased in contact, which was exposed to the laboratory equivalent of 90 days of sunlight. Lenses with shorter lifespans had the most amount of shed microplastics. According to a study by the American Chemical Society in June 2023, more than 90,000 plastic particles are sloughed off every year from lenses worn for 10 hours a day or more. Everyday acts that we take for granted are loaded with danger. In its report last year, the WHO warned people about the use of microwaves to heat food and beverages. Researchers found that heat from microwaving food in plastic containers could release billions of toxic particles. Popular plastic baby food containers can release over two billion nano plastics and four million microplastics per sqcm of the container.
The Indian war on microplastics is yet to go beyond Stage One. It seems to have first started with beauty products. Microbeads, a type of microplastics used in cosmetics, wellness products and toothpaste act as emulsifying agents or cheap fillers. They first appeared in personal care products about 50 years ago, when plastic replaced organic ingredients to cut costs. In 2017, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) proposed a ban on microbeads in cosmetics, which was implemented in 2020. Yet a 2022 study by the Delhi-based NGO, Toxic Links, found polymers and microplastic beads in test samples of face washes, face scrubs and body washes. “The report was able to highlight the use of plastic beads and the emanating pollution,” says Priti Mahesh, chief programme coordinator, of Toxic Links. The 2016 ban on single-use plastic is hardly being enforced: a study on the use of packaged table salt found that every Indian ingested 1,700 MP particles yearly through just salt. Every year, the country churns out 9.4 million tonnes of plastic waste. Going by the current pace, annual production of fossil-fuel plastic will nearly triple by 2060 to 1.2 billion metric tonnes.
Microplastic Menace: “It’s like a slow train coming,” says Vethaak about the microplastic advance. In 2022, scientists from the Netherlands and the UK announced the discovery of tiny plastic particles inside the lungs of surgical patients. In 2021, Italian researchers published a paper that revealed MP particles in the placentas of unborn babies for the first time, including maternal and fetal membranes. A 2019 Australian study reported that humans are gobbling up to 5 gm of MPs in their weekly diet—about the weight of a credit card.
It is raining plastic. Microplastics were discovered in raindrops during a geological survey in Colorado, which found microscopic fibres, beads and shards of plastic present in raindrops indicating contamination of the atmosphere. In New Zealand, scientists recorded 81 tonnes of microplastics falling from the skies in 2020. There were excessive levels of carcinogenic PFAS found in the rainwater that would pose a serious danger to populations whose main source of drinking water is rainwater. In 2020, Australian marine scientists found the world’s highest level of microplastics on the beaches of the Maldives and the waters near its shore. Arctic ice algae, heavily contaminated with microplastics, are proven to seep into the food web. Says Allen: “My first research was to show that microplastics were travelling long distances through the atmosphere.
I showed it coming back out of the sea; very high up in the free troposphere above the clouds. Microplastic pollution is present in the poles, Mount Everest, human placental serum, breast milk and infant’s first poop.
It is everywhere.” Soon, there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Researchers calculate an estimated 170 trillion particles weighing about two million metric tonnes currently afloat in the sea—21,000 pieces per person. Without urgent action, this number could nearly triple by 2040, a study reveals. It was five trillion in 2014. “Human history of the past 10,000 years can be divided into various ages: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The age we are living in for the past few decades is the Plastic Age,” laments Naqvi. His grouse is not without reason.
Traces of microplastics have been detected in sea salts. “Our recent work in the Arctic Melosira (algae that grow under sea ice) shows large quantities of trapped MPs. We know plastics have a detrimental effect on algae. The food chain of the ocean starts with such algae for plankton and other organisms,” warns Allen. “The estimate of 12 million tonnes going into the ocean every year through rivers is just one aspect. Our recent research into the release of MPs from recycling plants into rivers reveals staggering amounts being expelled from even state-of-the-art facilities. As much as 6 per cent of the plastic that goes in, leaks out as tiny particles,” he adds.
Breaking Free: According to UNEP’s ‘Turning Off the Tap’ report this year, which addresses ending plastic pollution globally and creating a circular economy, around 50 per cent of MP pollution can be reduced by 2040 with known solutions. “We must turn off the tap on plastic production to end microplastics and all plastic pollution. We need to acknowledge that plastics pollute from the moment their fossil fuel ingredients are extracted from the Earth, through their manufacturing, shipping, use, collection, and ultimate disposal in landfills, incinerators and the environment,” says Dianna Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Plastic Pollution Coalition, a Washington-based advocacy organisation working with the governments, civil society and stakeholders.
Measures against plastics, and subsequently MPs, are underway. In 2014, the Netherlands became one of the first countries to introduce a ban on microbeads in cosmetic products. Australia, Canada, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, Sweden, the US and the UK have also banned microbeads in some personal care products. “Though BIS labels microbeads in cosmetics as unsafe and the Cosmetics Act places some restrictions, its action is neither complete nor fully implemented. Hence companies continue to find loopholes to use microbeads,” adds Mahesh, who is pushing for stricter measures to control the release of microplastics, especially in the marine environment. Biodegradable and green products seem to be a great advertising con that big corporations have pulled over an ethically obsessed portion of society.
“Most of the research on humans has been scattered and also done in small groups, unlike lab animals. The science around microplastics is a complex matter when it comes to assessing what amount is going to cause what kind of damage,” laments Vethaak. Even if a conscientious consumer drops a plastic cup in a trash can, a poorly maintained compost bin could tip the contents over and pollute the earth. Western governments are scaling up their efforts by banning the worst plastic offender: polystyrene foam. Many new-age consumers are proud of using biodegradable material; what they don’t realise is that companies are just using the sustainability fashion route while manufacturing the toxic material. Plastic made
with natural materials like cornstarch, sugarcane or other natural products is touted as a solution; in fact, Coca-Cola, considered the biggest plastic polluter in the world, recently launched the first “100 per cent plant-based” bioplastic bottle.
Ethical fashionistas might want to wipe the smugness off their sustainable facials: fast fashion pollutes and how. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a bioplastic widely used to make textiles. Sarah-Jeanne Royer, an oceanographer and researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a department of UC San Diego, found that the chemical composition of the PLA is the same as that of plastic used in products advertised as biodegradable or green. Royer and her team placed cages containing samples of cotton, polyester and polypropylene, and fabrics blended with both, in the sea while some cages were sunk 10 metres deep for 14 months. The natural-based materials were biologically degraded while the others did not. The bio-based plastic samples didn’t disintegrate either. Scientists have concluded that just one brand new water recycling facility emits three million pounds of microplastics a year.
Scientists are now using electron microscopes to find ways to zap MPs in the blood. It’s perhaps a drop in the ocean, but individuals are doing their bit to neutralise this threat. Two tea entrepreneurs in Assam, Upamanyu Borkakoty, 35, and Anshuman Bhararli, 37, searched for authentic tea farmers and tea grown without fertilisers or pesticides. After reading a 2019 report about the presence of microplastics in tea cups, the two businessmen invented the world’s first bagless tea dip they named Woolah—happiness in Assamese. They use only the top two leaves in a tea plant’s bud, which has no chemicals or toxins and is loaded with antioxidants. Some companies have grown plastic conscience too. Much before Barbie opened to rave reviews, the toymaking company Mattel, which manufactures the legendary doll, set 2030 as the deadline for making toys with 100 per cent recycled or bio-based plastic. The Barbie slogan says, ‘You can be anything.’ Making the world plastic-free? Now, that’ll be something.
Plastic doesn’t decompose, it just gets smaller
A plastic bottle can break into 10,000 pieces of microplastic
A plastic bag takes 20 years to break down Plastic straws: 200 years Plastic bottles: 450 years Disposable diapers: 500 years
3.5 billion toothbrushes are sold worldwide each year
It takes more than 500 years for it to decompose
Ocean of Pollution
170 trillion pieces of plastic debris are there in the world’s oceans
They weigh roughly 2.4 million metric tonnes
The rate at which we are polluting the ocean doubles every 6 years
Humanity produces more than 430 million tonnes of plastic annually
Only 10% of plastic ever made has been recycled
Only 1 % of plastics are on the surface of the ocean
The other 99 per cent are microplastic fragments far below the surface
2/3rd of it will enter oceans
Plastic in the ocean breaks down and sinks to the seafloor. It breaks further into microplastics and enters marine organisms, eventually served to humans
12% of all plastic waste in the world’s oceans is plastic bottles
300 million plastic bags every year end up in the Atlantic Ocean
Toxic Trail: It was around four decades ago that scientists started to uncover the potential harm caused by plastics and it first started with animal studies. During this time, marine biologists, while investigating the eating habits of seabirds, started discovering plastic fragments in their stomachs. Slowly, but steadily, the push for a plastic-free world has gathered momentum. Ahead of the five-day-long negotiations at the key UN Plastic Pollution Treaty talks in May 2023, the WWF urged governments to support a global ban on high-risk plastic items, such as e-cigarettes, plastic cutlery and microplastics in cosmetics.
Planet plastic: While plastic is nearly indestructible, it does undergo fragmentation in the environment when exposed to ultraviolet radiation and external forces. The mechanical and biological degradation leads to three groups based on their size: macroplastics, mesoplastics and microplastics. Microplastics emerge through the weathering of plastic objects, car tyres, clothing, paint coatings and the release of pre-production pellets and powders. Plastic pollution in the ocean is largely land-based (occurring through, for example, land runoff, improper waste disposal, especially littering, transport and industrial activities). Since they easily pass through water filtration systems, they end up in the ocean, soil and air, and finally into our bodies.
By 2050, plastic will likely outweigh all fish in the sea
60% of all seabird species have eaten pieces of plastic; it will increase to 99 per cent by 2050
690 Marine species have ingested plastic
50 freshwater species have ingested plastic
50-75 trillion pieces of microplastics in the ocean
(Source: PLOS One journal; March 2023, UNEP, 2023, UNESCO; 2023, Source: Nature Journal, 2020)
Going Plastic-Free at Home
● When buying household items, opt for non-toxic, multi-use materials like stainless steel, ceramic and glass
● Ditch single-use plastic; carry your own stainless steel bottle and cutlery
● Filter your tap water—reverse osmosis is the most effective
● Use a filter in the washing machine that catches microplastics that break off from synthetic clothes; avoiding such fabrics is best
● Check for BPA-free packaging materials when buying canned and packaged food
● Avoid personal care brands with microbeads
“Most research on humans has been scattered and done in small groups, unlike lab animals. The science around microplastics is complex when it comes to assessing what amount can cause
what kind of damage.”
Dick Vethaak, emeritus professor of Water Quality and Health at VU, Amsterdam
“We need to acknowledge that plastics pollute from the moment their fossil fuel ingredients are
extracted from the earth.”
Dianna Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Plastic Pollution Coalition
“Though the Bureau of Indian Standards labels microbeads in cosmetics as unsafe and the Cosmetics Act places some restrictions, its action is neither complete nor fully implemented. Hence companies
continue to find loopholes.”
Priti Mahesh, Chief Programme Coordinator, Toxic Links
“Human history of the past 10,000 years can be divided into various ages: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The Age we are living in for the past few decades is the Plastic Age.”
SWA Naqvi, Former Director, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa
Ubiquitous microplastics are contaminating air, water, food, cosmetics, human placenta, and marine and animal life, choking the earth and its oceans. But the war on plastic—the greatest danger to human survival—has hardly begun.