The Earth is invaded by plastic. And our body is too: we drink, breathe and eat plastic, because it is in drinks, food and even in the air. Plastic, which is indestructible, is transformed into tiny particles: microplastics, i.e. microparticles of synthetic material smaller than 5 millimetres, and nanoplastics ranging from 1 to 1,000 nanometers (millionths of a millimetre). In fact, studies that have looked for microplastics within our bodies have always found them. Like the pilot study carried out by New York State University which also found them in meconium, that is, the first feces of newborns.
Plastic poop. In the US study, the meconium of three newborns, and the feces of six newborns and 10 adults were studied. In all the stool samples, the presence of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC) was noted, two of the most common plastics, used for example in beverage and food containers, with a much higher concentration in the poops of newborns. The results confirmed those of a previous European study, published in Pharmaceutics, who had found 10 different types of microplastics in the meconium of two babies born by caesarean section and in the mothers’ placentas. And another study conducted on pregnant mice also showed that inhaled microplastics, once they reach the blood, can reach the placenta and pass into the fetus.
Since microplastics can further fragment until they can enter the cells, causing even serious inflammation, it will be important to be able to better determine the origins of this contamination. And how much it can affect the health of the body from birth.