How your food is being contaminated by microplastics
One of the most enduring effects of the modern way of life is plastic pollution, which is now so pervasive that it is even contaminating produce as it grows.
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There are microplastics everywhere on the planet. They have been discovered in drinking water all around the world, within the stomachs of marine species living.
According to research conducted in 2022 by the environmental
non-profit Environmental Working Group, sewage sludge has contaminated nearly 20 million acres (80,937 sq km) of US cropland with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals” because they are frequently found in plastic products and do not decompose under normal environmental conditions. PFAS are also known as “perfluorinated compounds” (PFCs).
The waste product remaining after municipal wastewater has been cleaned up is sewage sludge. Sludge is frequently used as organic.
The researchers discovered that one wastewater treatment plant in south Wales, the UK, received up to 650 million microplastic particles.
Pollutants are permeating every area of human lives, from the microplastics sprayed on farmland to the foul odours emitted by sewage plants and the noise damaging marine life.
According to a UK Environment Agency report that was later made public by the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace,
Additionally, food crops might be directly harmed by plastic particles. A 2020 study in Catania, Sicily, Italy, discovered microplastics and nanoplastics in products supplied by local vendors as well as in supermarket-purchased fruit and vegetables. Carrots had the greatest concentrations of microplastics among the studied vegetables, and apples were the most polluted fruit.
According to study by Willie Peijnenburg, professor of environmental toxicology and biodiversity at Leiden.
In a different investigation, Peijnenburg and his colleagues discovered that the concentration of microplastics.
According to Peijnenburg’s research, the ingestion of the plastic particles did not appear to hinder.
