Microplastics are always present in everyday life – in water, food and soil. Now, they are also a fact in utero, revealed a new medical report.
In a study of pregnant women, microplastics were recently detected in the entire placenta – which connects the mother to the baby – in four healthy pregnant women. In tests that looked at only 4% of each individual’s placenta, at least a dozen plastic particles were found.
“It’s like having a cyborg child: it’s no longer just human cells, it’s a mixture of biological and inorganic entities,” said Antonio Ragusa, director of obstetrics and gynecology at San Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Rome.
“Mothers were shocked,” he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, as reported for the first time in the English Daily Mail.
Scientists are not sure how microplastic – with a definition of less than 5 millimeters – affects human health. Upon observation, they seem to pass through the digestive tract along with the other things we eat. What is happening in the meantime remains largely a mystery.
The stakes are significantly higher for pregnant women, which is why it is so important to understand what plastic does inside the human body – at any stage of life. That’s why scientists call this new report a “matter of great concern.”
Ragusa and his colleagues, whose findings were published in the journal Environment International, believe that this could only be a snapshot of the total volume of plastic in the middle placenta.
The microplastics found were about 10 microns in size – a hundredth of a millimeter – small enough to circulate blood flow through cells that are only 2 or 3 microns smaller.
Doctors fear that microplastics do not stop at the placenta and could play a role in the baby’s development.
“Due to the crucial role of the placenta in supporting fetal development and acting as an interface with the external environment, the presence of potentially harmful plastic particles is a matter of great concern,” the researchers wrote in their report.
The composition of plastics varies, some include chemicals that are known to disrupt hormone regulation or chemicals related to certain types of cancer. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering plastic in every corner of life, despite newborns. Earlier this year, researchers discovered that polypropylene bottles for baby formulas emit millions of plastic particles into nutritional milk every day of use.
The authors of the study asked the research community to continue its investigation.
“Further studies are needed to assess whether the presence of microplastics can trigger immune responses or lead to the release of toxic contaminants, resulting in harm,” they wrote.