It adds one more likely culprit to the long list of known cardiovascular risk factors, including red meat, butter, smoking, and stress. It’s microplastic.

In a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of doctors and researchers found that surgical patients with a buildup of microplastics and nanoplastics in their arterial plaques were at higher risk of non-fatal heart attacks. was 2.1 times higher. Patients who had no surgery were more likely to have a stroke or die from any cause in the 3 years after surgery.

This is the first study to show that these ubiquitous and harmful fossil fuel-based particles have a direct impact on human health, says study co-author Diabetes of Milan’s research hospital IRCCS MultiMedica. Department Head Antonio Ceriello said.

And it should serve as a warning to all people, governments and businesses that plastics are not just harmful and destructive to the environment, but also harmful to human health, he said. .

As government officials, negotiators, environmentalists and business representatives prepare to gather in Ottawa next month to discuss a global ban on plastic pollution, many believe the study is realistic and We hope that this will help point the way toward establishing concrete regulations.

“This is a start…people will understand that plastic isn’t just harmful to whales and sea turtles. It’s not just trash on a beach in some faraway country. It’s inside them. , and can cause harm. I think that will change the narrative,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the Global Public Health and Common Good Program at Boston University.

He compared awareness of the plastic crisis to climate change. Until wildfires burned homes, sustained heat waves destroyed crops, and floods destroyed communities, people understood it in abstract and theoretical ways.

“To my knowledge, this is the first report linking microplastics to human disease,” said Landrigan, who was not involved in the study but wrote an accompanying essay and shared it with the international community. It called for the United Nations to achieve a “global mandatory cap on plastic production.”

Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, suggested more research is needed.

“We encourage legislators to assess where those particles are coming from before using any kind of microplastic or nanoplastic argument to justify or pass legislation. “Because all the studies show that those particles are not coming from packaging or disposable items,” he said. .

Research shows that the two biggest sources of microplastics in the environment are car tires and synthetic fibers. However, as the plastic industry expands and the number of single-use plastic products increases, their impact on environmental pollution and pollution also increases.Approximately 151 million tons of single-use plastic were produced
That amount is expected to increase by a further 19 million tonnes by 2027.

The arterial plaque study was conducted by a team of 40 scientists, including surgeons, engineers, statisticians, and pathologists from more than a dozen institutions, including Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland. It was carried out by .

All 257 patients who completed the study had asymptomatic extracranial severe internal carotid artery stenosis. In other words, their carotid arteries were blocked by plaque. The patient underwent carotid endarterectomy, a procedure that opens the artery and removes plaque. Patients with previous heart failure, valvular heart disease, cancer, or other causes of hypertension were disqualified.

The researchers then examined the plaques and found polyethylene microparticles and nanoparticles in 150 patients. Polyvinyl chloride particles were present in the plaques of 30 patients. Electron microscopy images showed visible jagged “foreign bodies” along with biological plaques in these patients.

Polyethylene (PET) is a plastic used to make soda and water bottles. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a plastic used in water pipes, packaging, medical equipment, toothbrushes, children’s toys, and window frames, to name a few.

The two patient populations were similar in terms of age, gender, weight, smoking status, geographic location, blood pressure, and heart rate.

The authors noted that one clear difference was that the two groups were more susceptible to heart disease for several months after surgery, suggesting that the presence of microplastics may play a role. He pointed out that there was. In fact, indicators of inflammation were higher in the plastic-exposed group. Nonfatal heart attacks, nonfatal strokes, or death from any cause occurred in 8 of 107 patients who did not have microplastics in their plaques and in 30 of 150 patients who did have microplastics. It happened.

The authors emphasized that they can only show correlation, not causation. Additional research will be required to establish a clear relationship.

Chemicals such as bisphenol A and phthalates piggyback on the particles, said study co-author Leonardo Trasande, a pediatrician and public policy expert at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and Wagner School of Public Service. He said the same possibility existed. Or other plasticizers or additives may be the cause. The paper also points out that laboratory contamination and patient behavior, unknown to researchers, may also affect the results.

“You can’t say it’s microplastics, you can’t say it’s a chemical. There’s no study that’s measured both, so it’s hard to say because they coexist,” he said. “The reality is that plastics are harmful to human health and expensive.”

He pointed to a recent study he authored that showed the disease burden from these chemicals costs the U.S. health care system about $250 billion annually.

Ceriello and his co-authors highlighted numerous animal studies showing the harmful effects of microplastics. He also said the authors are still unsure how patients are being exposed, whether inhaled or orally.

Recent research has found that microplastics and nanoplastics are also present in water and dust contained in plastic bottles.

“This is a very solid thing and should be taken very seriously at the highest levels of government,” said Judith Enck, director of Beyond Plastics and former regional director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. . “This is consistent with other studies that have found microplastics in various organs, human blood, placenta, and breast milk, so it’s not all that surprising, but still surprising.”

Plastic has been found everywhere scientists have looked, from the deepest ocean trenches to the highest mountain peaks. Petroleum-based plastics do not biodegrade. Over time, they break down into smaller and smaller pieces, known as microplastics, microfibers, and nanoplastics, found in household dust, drinking water, human tissue and blood.

“Cardiologists have to inform patients to avoid plastic packaging, which is very difficult,” Enck says.

Tracy Woodruff, director of the Reproductive Health and Environment Program in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, said doctors and clinicians need to start talking to patients about the harms of plastic. She wrote an essay examining the harmful effects of endocrine disruptors in the same edition as her heart research.

She said her doctor’s advice to eat more organic and unprocessed food has already reduced her exposure to plastic. But more needs to be done, she said, as evidence of harm from plastic chemicals and endocrine disruptors is well-established, especially in the reproductive, obstetric and pediatric medical fields.

The mounting evidence is “getting harder to ignore,” she said.