Plastic Particles Pass From Mothers Into Foetuses, Rat Study Shows

Tiny plastic particles in the lungs of pregnant rats pass rapidly into the hearts, brains and other organs of their foetuses, research shows. It is the first study in a live mammal to show that the placenta does not block such particles. From a report: The experiments also showed that the rat foetuses exposed to the particles put on significantly less weight towards the end of gestation. The research follows the revelation in December of small plastic particles in human placentas, which scientists described as "a matter of great concern." Earlier laboratory research on human placentas donated by mothers after birth has also shown polystyrene beads can cross the placental barrier. Microplastic pollution has reached every part of the planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans, and people are already known to consume the tiny particles via food and water, and to breathe them in.

too bad

[rossdee]

but rats will survive, I am sure

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me tell you about pirates and global warming...

Re:

[JoshuaZ]

Yes, we get it, you want to make an implicit argument about abortion. It isn't as clever as you think it is. You probably don't think of an individual sperm as a person either. But damage to sperm is still a cause for concern. One can think that a fetus doesn't have moral weight and be concerned about damage to the fetus which will end up damaging a person if the fetus comes to term.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Pro-life-penalty is too cruel. And nuking the Earth from orbit is the only way to be sure.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Educated mothers usually do.

Foe-tuses

[rmdingler]

Ah, the British is an elegant English dialect.

The experiments also showed that the rat foetuses exposed to the particles put on significantly less weight towards the end of gestation.

Slimmer Pregnancies guaranteed!

Ask me how.

Re: Foe-tuses

[Malays2 bowman]

Foaheaeutuses-

Now I'm extra elegant!

Re:

[sajavete]

Friend- or foetus?

Re:

[alvinrod]

Much of that's probably down to better nutrition though there are likely other contributing factors. Lack of key proteins, vitamins, or other nutrients during prenatal development and early childhood can have some profound effects on a person's mental development.

A society having access to plastics may lead to some of those things, but exposure to small bits of it in the body seems unlikely to produce positive effects.

Re: Flynn Effect?

[crobarcro]

Well IQ is only useful for detecting learning difficultirs, so I don't know why we'd be interested

Mmm, not sure

[nospam007]

Is that now up-cycling or down-cycling?

ye old

[Shaitan]

For those unfamiliar foetuses is ye old english for fetuses.

Re:

[linforcer]

And for those unfamiliar that "y" in "ye" is a representation of a letter meant to be a sound that in today's English has come to be written "th", so don't even think of pronouncing it any other way than "the"

Other particles?

[tamuct01]

Microplastics embedded in our bodies are certainly concerning, but I have to ask if there are other, more natural, particles that exhibit similar properties? Volcanic dust? Microparticles of silica sand? I've seen numerous studies on microplastics, but none that compare the effects to similar-sized particles of foreign material.

My enemy's enemy...

[kackle]

Is a "foetus" a natural enemy of a fetus?