Ciarán Ferrin

In a world full of preventable cancers, fertility issues, autoimmune disorders and ecological degradations which are all on the rise, we should be looking after our collective health more than ever. If not for ourselves or our direct descendants, then to help avoid the catastrophic knock-on effects, like fatal hospital waiting times, premature deaths, developing respiratory illnesses, and more.

The issues of forever chemicals, micro-(& nano) plastics and heavy metal pollutants are so important because they are tied up into our everyday material belongings, foods and vestiges. In short, tackling these, will tackle a lot of our seemingly endless societal health problems. However, we still have a lot to learn about these contaminants.

By now, you might’ve heard the attention-grabbing headline that goes something like, “we have enough micro-plastics in our blood to make a credit card worth of plastic every week.” And research has shown that indeed, we may be ingesting about five grammes of micro-plastics a week through all sorts of contamination.

*Regional variations were found in the amount of plastic in water. Image: WWF*

So what are these chemicals? Microplastics are simply fragments of any type of plastic less than 5mm in length. These fragments can be broken down to the nano-scale which means they have much more chance of getting into our life-support systems, including the blood-brain barrier.

Forever chemicals are commonly referred to as a class of synthetic chemicals known as PFAs substances. There are thousands of different types from industrial processes to consumer products. And heavy metals are generally known as dense metals that are (usually) toxic at low concentrations. Some common examples include Lead, Mercury and even Aluminium.

How would we go about minimising our exposure to these chemicals? It’s good to know where they come from firstly, of course:

Tap & bottled water, beer and other beverages
Tin and aluminium cans
Lead pipes
Health/beauty products
Shellfish
Washing machines
Plastic products
Heated plastics (e.g. kettles, coffee machines, etc.)
Toys
Scratched/damaged Teflon pans
Car tyre leakages
Table salt

And the list goes on and on…

… but here are some solutions to keep in mind; and since this European Week for Waste Reduction is focusing on textiles, what better way to start than talking about it in terms of our clothing.

For example, producing denim is very energy intensive, requires a lot of fresh water, (with equal amounts being polluted with synthetic dyes) and can leak micro-fibres when washed continually.

Similarly, and potentially worse, is polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/polyester clothing, the same material as water bottles! This can be found in virtually everyone’s wardrobe and the plastic will break down just the same as plastic bottles do into micro-fibres; destroying the clothes, clogging your washing machines and polluting our water-ways.

This may all seem very scary, but we can start reducing our exposure right now by taking on some of the following recommendations:

Get out of the house! Getting out into nature is the best way to reduce our exposure to these harmful chemicals, as well as grounding yourself … a topic for another day!

Make smarter purchasing decisions, buy from conscious dealers/manufacturers, reduce, reuse, upcycle, recycle, wash less, etc.
Reduce plastic exposure, within reason - there’s no immediate need to throw everything plastic from your life, but strategic reduction is best, and might even reduce your carbon footprint.
There have been designations given to types of plastics, and the general rule of thumb is plastics in categories #2, #4 and #5 are generally considered safe. Plastics #1, #3, #6 and #7 should be used with varying levels of caution. Even though there are ‘safer’ plastics, one should try to avoid them as much as possible.
Get things our ancestors would’ve used such as glass, organic fabrics, ceramics, natural materials, etc.
House plants can absorb some harmful gases from around the home and release some that are beneficial for lung health.
Vacuum regularly & keep it tidy! This removes some of the micro-plastics found in dust particles.
Some shampoos, soaps, toothpastes, makeups, etc. are releasing all variations of these chemicals. Usually better quality products have fewer toxic components.
Wholefoods/superfoods are not only necessary for a thriving health, but also guarantee less toxic processing as you would usually see in highly processed foods, for example.

We unfortunately won’t be able to realistically avoid these particles and chemicals at this current time, but we still have time to turn our act around on yet another set of problems that can help us improve our physical and mental health once again.

Featured image courtesy of PlasticNews.com on WWF study

Ciarán Ferrin is a Science and Environment reporter for The Scoop. He has an MSc in Leadership for Sustainable Development and is currently working as a support provider at Ulster University.

Cursed Chemicals – The fight against Micro-plastics, Heavy-metal pollutants and Forever Chemicals