Plastic Particles Found Inside Unborn Babies, Experts Called This A Matter Of Great Concern

If you think 2020 has nothing to throw at us, think again. As if a pandemic and several natural disasters weren’t enough, researchers have recently found plastic particles inside unborn babies’ placentas.

Previous studies have revealed that humans consume around 330 plastic pieces, about the size of a seed, on average every day. However, to what extent these tiny particles can impact our health is still unknown to researchers. Experts raise concern that the chemicals the particle carries may affect the fetuses’ immune system and other long-term damages.

The research found plastic particles inside the placentas of four mothers who had perfectly healthy births and pregnancies. The particles might have been breathed in or ingested by the women. They are found on both the maternal and fetus’s side of the placentas and also inside the membrane in which the babies were developing.

Since merely 4% of the placenta was examined, the actual number of plastic particles might be even higher than the researchers announced. All of them carry traces of pink, red, orange, blue dyes, and pigments so they might come from personal care products like cosmetics, or paints and packaging.

Their small sizes of only 0.01 mm allow them to travel in the bloodstream. Some of them might be inside the babies’ bodies but experts had no way to check that theory.

According to Antonio Ragusa, San Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli hospital’s director of obstetrics and gynecology, it is like the babies are cyborgs, they carry both inorganic and biological compounds. As you may expect, the mothers were in shock when they were notified of the issue.

The research was made public in the journal Environment International, the placenta plays a vital role in the development of the fetuses; it also serves as an interface to the outside environment, so the presence of plastic particles there is a real cause for concern. The researchers call for further studies to assess the scope of the problem the particles may cause. They said the foreign objects may trigger the babies’ immune system or release harmful chemicals that can harm the fetuses.

These plastic particles might lead to preeclampsia – a complication that happens during pregnancy, which often causes damage to kidneys or livers and high blood pressure. They can also prevent the fetuses from developing as they should.

Two other pregnant women who participated in the study at the San Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli hospital showed no sign of these particles, which might be the result of different diets, physiology, and lifestyle.

To make sure that deliveries were free of plastic contamination, midwives and obstetricians used cotton gloves and cotton towels only whenever they made contact with the mothers. The babies’ umbilical cords were removed by metal clippers to avoid anything plastic.

King’s College London’s professor of obstetrics Andrew Shennan said the safe deliveries were good news but it was best not to have any foreign objects inside the fetuses while they were still in the womb.

In an interview with The Guardian, Elizabeth Salter Green of Chem Trust – a chemicals charity, said babies were born pre-contaminated, and although the scope of the study was small, the results are causes for concerns.

Along with presenting the issue of mothers having plastic particles in their placentas and some worrisome ways in which they reached the bodies, the study also pointed to some other research that sounds an alarm and raises awareness about plastic pollution.

Back in October, a study claimed that small children that were fed formula milk in plastic bottles ingest millions of pieces of particles on a daily basis. Last year, air pollution particles were found in the placentas, pointing to a possibility that babies can also be impacted by the burin of fossil fuels and exhaust fumes of automobile traffic even when they are still in the womb.

Plastic has deeply penetrated the environment and now human bodies. While for now the effects of them on our bodies have not yet be assessed, we know for sure that for marine animals, they can cause severe effects, including hindering their growth, messing with their reproductive systems, changing their feeding behaviors, decrease appetite, cause liver damage, and tissue inflammation.

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