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Re:Clams filter the water and check whether the water is pol... by luckman212 on Thursday December 31, 2020 @01:11AM (#25590069)
Are the microplastics just in the ocean though? I thought they were turning up just about everywhere now, even human placentas[0]

[0]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202...

Re:Clams filter the water and check whether the water is pol... by air7 on Thursday December 31, 2020 @04:23AM (#25591049)
Yeah. Major sources of everyday microplastics are: 1. Washing synthetic clothes in the washing machine 2. Normal wear and tear of tires

This made me go from being very alarmed to the realization that if these things causes major harm, we would have undoubtedly known about it by now

Re:Clams filter the water and check whether the water is pol... by beowulfey on Thursday December 31, 2020 @05:25AM (#25591403)
Generally foreign contaminants introduce chronic immune responses. A rise in autoimmune disorders could potentially be a result. Or perhaps a single particle has a small chance of inducing cancer in a cell that endocytically engulfs it. In a situation like these the effects of low numbers will be small and hard to attribute to the source but that doesn’t mean it won’t continue to make it much worse for us.
Re:Clams filter the water and check whether the water is pol... by mswann on Thursday December 31, 2020 @08:34AM (#25592506)
Significant amounts of plastics are also found in plants.[0]

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23611874

Re:Clams filter the water and check whether the water is pol... by dinkleberg on Thursday December 31, 2020 @01:22AM (#25590109)
That’s why I mentioned I’m sure they are everywhere, so maybe I’m overcautious.

At the same time though I’m certain any marine life is subjected to way more micro plastics than those on land. So consuming anything that functions as a filter is gonna have high concentrations of it. At least that is my logic.