Microplastics are our fragmented plastic waste. These pollutants have shown an exponential environmental rise over the last 50 years. We are progressively becoming more plastic. Microplastics are routinely found in human blood, bone marrow, breast milk, placentas and semen. Their precise impacts on human health are, as yet, uncertain. Some studies have found, however, that brain concentrations of microplastics in folk with dementia, are 6 times the supposed 'normal' values. A recent study in Nature Medicine analysed samples of brain, liver and kidney tissue from folk in New Mexico. Twenty-eight died in 2016 and 24 others in 2024. Brain concentrations of microplastics were much higher than in the other tissues. Neural and liver concentrations were also higher in 2024 than in 2016. These scientists confirmed this rising trend of neural microplastic contamination, in samples taken from folk dying between 1997 and 2013 on the US east coast. The accumulation of neural plastics in humans appears to be widespread (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/03/levels-of-microplastics-in-human-brains-may-be-rapidly-rising-study-suggests). Microplastics cause neurological damage, by blocking the brain's capillaries in mice. Human capillaries are, however, much wider. Consequently, no causal link between the presence of microplastics and human mental health should currently be assumed. The possibility exists, however, that these plastic pollutants are linked to conditions such as Alzheimer's. This is an area that certainly warrants more investigation.
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