This is massively concerning given the amount of microplastics littering our modern environment. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microplastics-linked-to-heart-attack-stroke-and-death/ Microplastics have even been found in breast milk https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/07/microplastics-human-breast-milk-first-time
This is a huge issue. I watched a documentary on this, and one scientist said that we ingest enough plastics over a 10-year period, that it would be like eating an ocean buoy.
The research is showing worse and worse news https://www.nature.com/articles/d41...ail&utm_term=0_b27a691814-68f5e9ceab-51847612 This is not just an immediate issue it is a generational issue
I'm more concerned about the accumulation of lead from casting bullets but that is an activity for Old Men and it needs to be kept away from pregnant women and children. But none of us can keep ourselves away from micro plastics. You want to live in a modern world you have to live with modern problems. Or we can elect a government that can make us basically live as serfs and control our every actions? That's what we need..
if they smelled like cigarettes, they would already be restricted as they are much worse for one's health
in many places they are, smoking one in your car in some parking lots, you will be fined but you are right, the word should have been "restricted", not "banned"
And it might be a little off topic but I think it might apply. These Vapes that people are doing... I myself smoke filterless cigarettes. I watched a girl walking down the road the other day puffing on a vape.... She was exhaling a cloud probably four times the size of a puff off of a cigarette and I thought to myself there is no damn way that can be better for you than smoking. The jury is still out on the long-term effects of vaping and I wouldn't want to be sitting there smoking those damn things myself. I bet people that do Vapes are inhaling microplastics
Ok - if you want to live in an environment that is so polluted it is changing the sex of the kids, causing miscarriages, giving people diabetes and killing people before they are forty then that is your choice. Me? I have signed the petition by Greenpeace https://act.greenpeace.org.au/global-plastics-treaty
Cigarettes smell like **** so smokers - don’t bother to come to civilised countries we like our health. Smoking is all but banned completely here
They may be but it is the ingestion through eating fish and other contaminated foodstuff that is the worst.
Mmmm. That looks tasty! I’ve tried (with some success) to transition from plastic drinking water containers I use in the summer to glass. Plastic is just so handy and durable.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2854718/ This is from 2009 and as a general rule I do not nd have not for many years used plastic bowls in the microwave or drink from a plastic bottle that has been in a hot car. And I just found this - looks like my reading for the next couple of days https://www.endocrine.org/topics/edc/plastics-edcs-and-health
Tough to get away from. Especially with foods. Whatever happened to the cornstarch-derived plastics? For some non-food items I was marketing, I chose cellophane instead of plastic. It's biodegradeable.
It’s out there but I think still a bit more expensive and harder to source than petroleum based. Something I haven’t looked into for a long time. 3D printers commonly use PLA filaments but I don’t know if it’s sourced from renewables. @Bowerbird has researched this topic more than anyone. Do you know if all PLA is from renewables? I know sugar is a feedstock where corn isn’t a common crop.
Not sure - not an expert on making the plastics I am more into the human impact. Thing is even “BPA free” plastics have phthalates that can mimic or disrupt body hormones - EDCs Endocrine Disrupting Hormones. We KNOW sperm counts are falling in men and we know EDCs can affect sperm count bit do we have a direct causal link - unfortunately not yet
So I read up a bit. Polylactic acid (PLA) plastics are all made from renewables. Typically corn or sugar cane or sugar beets. It’s essentially starch converted to lactic acid and then polymerized. It’s naturally phthalate and BPA free. In its original state it requires high temperatures to break down (biodegrade). But there are enzymes that can be added to the plastic food container or whatever that facilitates biodegradation at normal (room) temperatures. I’d be willing to bet phthalates are involved in a lot of modern first world physical and possibly mental health issues. Would be an interesting area of research for young bucks looking to make a difference in human health.
That is excellent. It is getting hard to buy cigs in my current area. But back to topic...microplastics are a clear and present danger.
Given the effect on sex hormones they may be behind the rise in transgenderism. So Alex Jones is t least partially right - Frogs are turning gay!
One of the first thread I've seen with no naysayers. You'd think if this is a unanimous opinion, regardless of political ideology, that something would be getting done. Sounds like a movement that needs a leader!
My fear is that this will end like the climate change issue - big companies will start a disinformation campaign to block actions that would potentially eat into profits. We know that playbook - we saw it with the Tobacco industry, we have seen it with the fossil fuel industry and many many many of the issues around plastics are from use of plastic made from fossil fuels. 557 has researched alternatives and there are alternatives. Australia has banned plastic straws - and yes I too hate the replacement straws that stick to your lips - they almost make you want to throw the straw away and drink straight from the cup! We have banned, well, restricted, plastic bags, we are recycling milk bottles and ocean waste into bin liner bags but there is just so much more we could do. My favourite peeve is extraneous and useless plastic packaging. Why do we get a fingernail sized doodad inside a plastic sheet that is larger than an iPad and so thick you need a chain saw to open the stinking thing!
Plastic bags help lower emissions. Shock Findings: Plastic Shopping Bags Cause Around Four Times Less ‘Carbon’ Emissions than Paper Substitutes BY CHRIS MORRISON If green activists truly worried about atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide, they would bring back plastic shopping bags tomorrow. But they wouldn’t – the whipped up plastic scare has been too useful a tool to batter people into accepting the relentless drive to embrace inferior products and technologies. The acceptance of reduced lifestyle choices, and the unlimited chance for middle class activists to virtue signal, is part of the all-important collectivisation under the planned Net Zero project. But now a recent science paper has revealed that in 15 out of 16 applications of plastic covering 90% of global volume, the alternatives actually produced more greenhouse gases. . . . .
