Two studies, one in Canada and another in Australia, have found plastic in supermarket seafood – not just in the stomachs of the fish, but in the flesh too. This means we are eating plastic when we enjoy a tasty nutritious seafood dish. But how much? And is it harmful?
For many years, the eye of environmentalists has been on plastics found floating in our oceans and lakes. We’ve all seen photos of sea life and birds being tangled in plastic rope or strangled by loops of plastic packaging. And that’s a concern.
But, at the same time, sun, wind and waves have been breaking down these plastics into smaller and smaller fragments that even the tiniest water creatures can consume. Research is just beginning to look at what effects this may be having on marine life.
However, there’s a good chance this plastic could be affecting us too when we eat seafood. Besides the content of plastic itself, which is composed of many chemicals, these microplastics are carriers of other chemicals, like PCBs, pesticides, flame retardants, and many kinds of hormone-disrupting compounds. And they’re all through the fish, not just in their digestive system, so gutting out the digestive organs doesn’t remove the plastic. How much does this affect our health? Scientists don’t know yet but, at least, they are staring to look at the problem.
My story...
I’m probably aware of the potential health effects more than most. Years ago, I thought using a Tupperware tumbler with a “sippy” lid (that my kids no longer needed) as a car coffee cup was a great idea. It fit in the car cup holder and didn’t spill all over the place in the car. And I had lots of them so they could just go into the dishwasher afterward.
I used these for months, enjoying my morning coffee daily on my way to work. But eventually, my coffee started to taste more and more like plastic. I remember stopping one day and dumping it, because it tasted just awful…
But through this time, I had started getting some health issues. A bad PAP test, breast lumps that, fortunately, were just benign fluid filled cysts (not considered dangerous), and even a little cervical cryosurgery. But a few months after I stopped using the sippy cups, the problems all went away.
I didn’t make the connection to the plastic cups until I went to a showing of a documentary film about the connections between the environment and breast cancer with a long-time friend who’s a cancer survivor. It was organized by the local breast cancer support group and open to the public. The documentary was called “Exposure: Environmental Links to Breast Cancer” and the producer and director were there to discuss the film and answer questions afterward. I have included a link to the full 53-minute documentary in the references below, if you’d like to watch it. It’s worth an hour of your time…
One of the environmental links discussed, was plastic or chemicals from plastic that make their way into our food through contact. They explained that simply microwaving food in plastic, especially fatty food, could leech hormone-disrupting chemicals into your meal. These chemicals can mimic the action of our own hormones, over-stimulating organs like the breast that respond to hormones. They can also block the beneficial actions of hormones, leaving us with a dangerous hormone imbalance.
I quickly made the connection between the coffee cups I had been using and my health problems. The coffee was leeching ingredients from the plastic, helped along by the heat and oils in the coffee, and I had been giving myself a daily dose.
A story about alligators
An additional problem is that these chemicals, those in pesticides and herbicides as well as plastics, are fat soluble and tend to be stored in fatty tissues in our bodies. Animal studies suggest that small exposures over a long period of time can add up and become equivalent to a large exposure. Studies on alligators in Florida lakes, comparing those in Lake Apopka (which was exposed to a chemical spill) to those in Lake Okeechobee (which had low levels of pollution over time) and Lake Woodruff (which was still pristine), demonstrate this.
The same health changes were found in alligators in the first two lakes, although more severe in the lake that received the large chemical spill. Animals in both lakes had disruptions in hormones: low testosterone and small penis size in males, malformed “burned out” ovaries in females; all had altered thyroid hormone levels. This showed that low level chemical exposure accumulated over time, resulting in health problems similar to those caused by a single large exposure.
Alligators are considered worth of study and comparison to humans because we are both at the top of the food chain and tend to concentrate the environmental chemicals consumed by the chain of organisms that create our food. Lowered testosterone levels have been reported in humans, fertility problems are on the rise and thyroid issues are rampant in humans. The thyroid replacement drug, Synthroid, is among the most prescribed medications.
Back to plastics…
I read an article this week about how campaigns to reduce single-use plastics have had to be put on hold during the pandemic. To protect cashiers in stores, they were told to begin using disposable plastic bags and this is understandable (although one should be asking, why not paper bags!). However, I never stopped using my reusable bags and simply asked to pack them myself. In Costco, we pack our bags as we put our goods into the car. We need to get back on track with reducing our use of plastics and find a way to do it safely.
There are so many ways for chemicals from plastics and other sources to be introduced into our food supply. Microbeads in toiletries were banned in Canada and elsewhere 2018 but much more microplastic makes its way into the environment through plastic bags, Styrofoam containers and plastic cutlery, according to Chelsea Rochman, University of Toronto ecologist. “It has infiltrated every level of the food chain in marine environments…and so now we’re seeing it come back to us on our dinner plates.”
Is it affecting our health?
Researchers say they don’t fully understand the risks to human health yet, but new methods of detecting microplastics in food will make it easier to find out. However, microplastics and the tinier bits called nanoplastics have been found in sea salt, beer, honey and bottled water. They can also be deposited on food as dust particles and during processing and packaging of the food, so there's a good chance it's in more than just fish. Even opening plastic packaging can result in shedding of microplastics in your home.
It’s very difficult to avoid all exposure to environmental chemicals now, but we do have some control on the level of exposure in our personal environment. I wrote about strategies to do this in my August 3, 2018 blog: Plastic? Think twice.
We can also demand that our governments find safe ways to continue the process of reducing and eventually eliminating sources of plastic that end up polluting our environment and our food. And we can change our personal use of plastic items, starting with avoiding single-use plastics and purchasing foods that are not wrapped in plastic. Stores respond to demands of consumers… Think of it as a sort of “voting with your wallet.”
So, what will you do differently, starting today, to reduce your exposure to plastics and other harmful chemicals? Comment below so we can all benefit from YOUR ideas…
References:
Exposure: Environmental Links to Breast Cancer – Martha Butterfield, Francine Zuckerman, Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg
Research Finds Alligator Problems Also Evident In Less Polluted Lakes – Science Daily
Microplastics found in supermarket fish, shellfish – CBC News
Study found plastic in every seafood sample it analyzed – Medical News Today
Fight against single-use plastics sidelines by COVID-19, report finds – CBC News
Plastic bans, environmental monitoring get short shrift during pandemic – CTV News
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