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A potentially much more nefarious and less understood threat than microplastics has health experts concerned after scientists uncovered a link between tiny particles of polyester and changes in brain proteins associated with Parkinson’s disease and certain types of dementia.
Just when you thought our plastic pollution problem couldn’t get any worse, scientists have uncovered evidence that nanoplastics – which are tiny but ubiquitous particles of polyester – may potentially be impacting our minds.
The study is one of numerous recent findings revealing the link between the material and troubling health problems, one being the fact it’s now made its way into our blood.
But what are nanoplastics? As we know, microplastics (undetectable to the human eye and less than 5mm in length) have been at the forefront of public concern for a while now, located almost everywhere on Earth as a direct result of our insatiable consumption habits.
Nanoplastics, however, aren’t just smaller versions of the same scourge. Almost invisible under a regular microscope, they interact with the environment and living organisms in a completely different way, forming when bigger pieces of plastic break down because of UV light, waves, natural enzymes, or other factors.
This means that we have absolutely no idea how many nanoplastics are currently floating around us.
What we are aware of, however, is that this less understood threat is potentially much more nefarious than microplastics because according to new research, the presence of these toxic chemicals in our bodies is creating changes in parts of the brain that are associated with Parkinson’s disease and certain types of dementia.
‘From the public point of view, this could be the next asbestos,’ says lead author, Professor Andrew West.
Since they’re infinitesimal, nanoplastics can get into places that microplastics can’t.
Where microplastics might get inside our organs, nanoplastics can get inside our cells and attract clumps of alpha-synuclein (a particular protein that correlates with Parkinson’s disease).
‘Parkinson’s disease has been called the fastest-growing neurological disorder in the world,’ says West.
‘Our study suggests that the emergence of micro and nanoplastics in the environment might represent a new toxin challenge with respect to Parkinson’s disease risk and progression.’
‘While microplastic and nanoplastic contaminants are being closely evaluated for their potential impact in cancer and autoimmune diseases, the striking nature of the interactions we could observe in our models suggest a need for evaluating increasing nanoplastic contaminants on Parkinson’s disease and dementia risk and progression.’
