What is microplastic? | Microplastics in the human body | Microplastics in Bangladesh Microplastic Awareness

 Plastic was first invented in 1850. Plastic was invented by a scientist named Alexander Park. So initially the name of the plastic was park zain. Since then, about 830 million metric tons of plastic have been produced. Of this, about 600 million metric tons of plastic has directly become garbage. That is, about 80% of the plastic produced in the world remains as waste.  

What is Microplastic - Microplastic in Human Body - Microplastic in Bangladesh - Microplastic Awareness - Microplastics - NeotericIT.com

Every year, about 80 lakh tons of plastic waste is falling into the sea through rivers, drains, canals, and rivers. If all the plastic waste generated so far were collected in one place, the pile of garbage would be higher than the highest mountain peak of the world, Mount Everest. The most dangerous form of plastic waste is microplastic  . Microplastics enter our bodies and blood from the things we use every day. Even recently, the presence of microplastics in mother's breast milk is being found. The silent killer microplastics are posing an unprecedented threat to humanity. Microplastics will be discussed in this episode of Neoteric IT. 

What is microplastic?

Microplastics are the smallest particles of plastic. Plastics usually smaller than 5 millimeters are considered microplastics. That is, microplastics are plastic particles smaller than about one-fifth of an inchis called However, the microplastics that are dangerous for human health are much smaller. All such tiny microplastics are scattered around us, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. Our civilization has largely become dependent on plastic. Nowadays, you can't walk without plastic. From the beginning of the day to the time we go to sleep at night, we use various plastic materials. Plastic everywhere you go. Water bottles are all plastic. . Our market bags are plastic. Hotel-restaurant food is oiled in plastic containers. From daily necessities to delicious food packets, plastic. Starting with toothpaste used every morning, face wash, body wash, Cosmetics like nail polish and detergent powder contain microplastics. Apart from this, microplastic enters our body through different types of food. Currently, about 51 trillion microplastics are floating in the ocean. Plastic waste floating in the ocean is broken down into microplastics with the help of ultraviolet rays from the sun. Microplastics are taken as food by the tiny creatures of the sea. Then gradually bigger and bigger fishes eat those small fishes, At one stage, those microplastics enter the human body through the continuation of the food chain. Microplastics are not digested in the stomach of any animal even though they travel through the body of so many animals and enter the human body. In addition to marine animals, microplastics are entering the stomachs of seabirds. Plastic or micro plastic is getting stuck in the throat of many animals and dying. In 2018, a dead whale washed up on the coast of Spain. About 32 kg of plastic was found in that whale. Microplastics are abundant in certain places. Among those places are the coast of Spain, the Yangtze River in China, the Australian Mariana Trench and the rivers of the United Kingdom. 

Microplastics in the human body

Recent studies have shown that microplastics from various plastic materials used throughout the day are getting into human blood. In addition, there are many microplastics in our lungs which are not likely to be inhaled by the human body. Among the microplastics found in the human body, PET plastic is the most. Usually water bottles are made of this type of plastic. After that, polystyrene is the most common plastic found in the human body. This type of plastic is commonly used for packaging food products and other daily necessities and another type of plastic that can be found in human blood is polyethylene. We all know this material, plastic bags are made from polythene. Different types of plastics release chemicals that have estrogenic activity. Tiny plastic particles enter the human body and act like the hormone estrogen started doing This is known as estrogen activity. Most plastics develop estrogenic activity after exposure to sunlight. 92 percent of people in America have such harmful symptoms. In children under 11 years of age, this damage level is almost double. In addition, various harmful microorganisms get the opportunity to nest on the microplastics in the human body. Microplastics cause various types of hormonal problems in our body. Apart from this, microplastic increases the risk of cancer many times. Micro plastic pollution is a very new issue. So there is not enough research on this subject yet. That's why it is difficult to have an accurate idea of ​​what kind of threat harmful substances can bring to the human body. But plastic destroys the balance of the natural environment and has caused a terrible disaster 

Microplastics in Bangladesh

Two groups of researchers from the Environmental Science Department of Jahangirnagar University have done several studies on microplastics . Two separate studies on dietary salt and sugar in Bangladesh are noteworthy. The research was carried out by collecting open salt samples from local shops including salt of the famous ten bands of the country. Both packaged and unopened salt contains microscopic plastic. 390 to 7400 microscopic plastics were found per kg of sea salt. The level of this microscopic plastic is much higher than other countries in the world. Commercially produced food salts from the Bay of Bengal include polystyrene, ethylene ,  vinyl acetate   , polyethylene nylon ,  polyethylene terephthalate.Plastic material like Another study found dangerous levels of harmful microplastics in different brands of sugar. More than 10 tons of microplastic particles can enter the body of people in Bangladesh every year through sugar alone. Besides, research conducted on tea bags of five brands shows that there are plastic particles like polytetrafluoroethylene, high density polyethylene, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, vinyl ethynyl vinyl acetate, cellulose acetate and AVS. This is the case for only three consumer goods. If you research all the food products in the market, you can easily imagine what a terrible picture will emerge. From these food products, plastic is getting into our blood at such a terrible rate that recently the presence of microplastics in mother's milk has also been found

Microplastic Awareness

80% of all plastic products in the world are polluting the natural environment as e-waste. Besides, 12% plastic is burnt which is also harmful for the environment. And only 8% of plastic products are recycledis done In 2014, the United Nations Environment Conference included plastic pollution in the list of top 10 environmental problems. Microplastics research was identified as the second biggest scientific problem at the 2015 United Nations Environment Conference due to insufficient knowledge about microplastics. Since I can't live without plastic, experts suggest that advanced types of plastic should be produced so that micro plastic pollution is reduced. Besides, emphasis should be placed on recycling of plastic products. Plastic pollution is progressing behind the scenes at an alarming rate. So we have to be aware of this. Single-use plastic products should be discarded. A silent epidemic like microplastics is engulfing us. This terrible epidemic is called antibiotic resistance. In other words, antibiotics are not working as before in our body. About 50 lakh people are dying indirectly every year due to antibiotic resistance. What is antibiotic resistance ? And how is this leading us to a silent epidemic? If you want to know about it, you can read this article of our Neoteric IT. 

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