- A new study reveals that dishwasher can be another way in which microplastics are mocking the environment and potentially have an impact on human health.
- Microplastics have been linked to a range of health problems.
- Continue to read to find out more about results and risks.
Whether or not it is an article is marked as a “dishwasher”, some items are better washed by hand. Not only to avoid tracking a precious plate, but also for your general well-being. A new study has studied how plastic dishwasher containers, in particular, contribute to microplastic pollution as a whole, at home and potentially in human health.
Meet the experts: René Caballero, Ph.D.Research toxicologist at the National Sanitation Foundation; And Kelly Krisna Johnson-Arbor, MDToxicologist at Medstar Health.
Below, toxicologists decompose the results and explain how your most faithful device can be one of the avenues by which microplastics find their way in your body.
What does the study found?
Researchers Analyzed the wastewater produced by a domestic dishwasher after cleaning a full load of plastic dishes and utensils and found that a single load could release around 920,000 micro and nanoplastic particles in wastewater, which constitutes a threat to the environment and water supply. The particles have been measured for the size, mass and concentration of plastic. Based on the results, the daily use of the dishwasher could make each cleaning responsible for the annual release of 33 million nano and microplastic particles on a global scale. However, compared to other sources of microplastic pollution such as manufacturing, the researchers have found that the contribution of the dishwasher is relatively low.
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles found in dirt, water, air, the food chain and our body. There are still many more research to determine their concentration and their impact on health, but their increasingly known presence has naturally raised significant health problems in recent years (especially after Research has revealed that the human brain can contain up to a spoonful of microplastics!).
“They enter the environment by rejection of wastewater and the degradation of the largest plastic materials,” explains René Caballero, Ph.D.A research toxicologist at the National Sanitation Foundation. And plastic (low quality plastic, in particular) is easily degraded by heat, agitation and abrasive detergents, the three main cleaning mechanisms used by dishwasher to make your cutlery shine.
How could it have an impact on health?
Plastic particles of dish plastic are unloaded in wastewater, “where they may not be filtered effectively before water is reintroduced in the supply of drinking water and consumed by humans,” said Kelly Krisna Johnson-Arbor, MDToxicologist at Medstar Health.
Many others studies studied the effects of microplastic exposure on human health and have linked it to hormonal disturbances, inflammation, intestine problems, metabolic problems and cardiovascular disease. And although the real impacts of microplastics are not fully understood at the moment, immunocompromised people, children, pregnant and elderly people may be more likely to develop health problems due to exposure. “Therefore, it is crucial that consumers are proactive to reduce it,” says Caballero.
How to reduce your microplastic exposure
Remember that, because the environment is so saturated with it, it is “almost impossible to avoid them entirely,” said Dr. Johnson-Arbor. But the reduction of your global exposure with the following elements is supposed to reduce health risks.
- Drinking filtered water as far as possible and installing a tap filter that creates microplastics. “Read the packaging labels carefully to make sure that the filters have small pore sizes which are effective in eliminating tiny microplastic particles which are less than 5 millimeters in diameter”, which is the official size threshold for microplastics, “explains Caballero.
- Avoid washing plastic dishes in the dishwasher or avoid using plastic software completely and replace what you can with glass, bamboo and / or stainless steel.
- Do not make plastic containers in the microwave.
- Maintain the devices correctly to make sure they work effectively and reduce the risk of microplastic contamination.