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May 12, 2023 / in Uncategorized
PLASTICS ARE KILLING US

The British newspaper The Guardian recently reviewed a study by researchers at the University of Vienna on the effects of plastic ingestion. At this point, the researchers found it’s clear that plastics have infiltrated most parts of the human body, including our blood, organs, placentas, breast milk and gastrointestinal systems. While we don’t yet fully understand how plastics affect different parts of our bodies, many chemicals found in various types of plastic are known carcinogens and hormone-disruptors, linked to negative health outcomes including obesity, diabetes, reproductive disorders and neurological impairments in fetuses and children.

In the course of their research, the team gave mice water laced with particles of polystyrene – a type of plastic that’s common in food packaging such as yoghurt cups and Styrofoam takeout containers. Using computer models to track the dispersion of the plastics, researchers found that nanoplastic particles – which are under 0.001 millimeters and invisible to the naked eye – were able to travel into the mice’s brains via a previously unknown biological “transport mechanism”. Essentially, these tiny plastics are absorbed into cholesterol molecules on the brain membrane surface. Thus stowed away in their little lipid packages, they cross the blood-brain barrier – a wall of blood vessels and tissue that functions to protect the brain from toxins and other harmful substances.

None of this is encouraging news – especially in light of the fact that plastic production is still rising at a sharp pace. So improving our understanding of plastic implications for human health is a crucial step towards reducing our dependency on plastic – are you aware of the fact that an average of three-quarters of people across 28 countries agree that single-use plastic should be banned as soon as possible, the ‘Attitudes towards single-use plastic’ survey by Ipsos in conjunction with Plastic Free July has revealed? Encouragingly, more than 100 countries have a full or partial ban on single-use plastic bags. Our local supermarket no longer provides these single use bags but everything they sell is packaged in single use plastic…seems a bit hypocritical!

Around the world, one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, while up to five trillion plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed for single-use purposes – used just once and then thrown away or hopefully recycled. While plastic has many valuable uses, we have become addicted to single-use plastic products — with severe environmental, social, economic and health consequences.

Filcon Filters is dedicated to improving the quality of water and in this regard is providing a wide range of liquid filtration products, such as filter housings, filter bags and filter cartridges https://filconfilters.co.za/new-products/ .  In recent years, plastic pollution has become an increasingly important environmental and human health issue. Filcon Filters will continue to bring to your attention the effects of pollution on our health and wellbeing.

#PlasticPollution #FilterBags #FilterCartridges, #FilterHousings #Carcinogens  #HormoneDisruptors