And this study suggests aluminium in the brain might be cause (or effect) of autism, Alzheimer's, and various other neurological conditions:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64734-6
(Sulphates, acetates and oxides form really easily from contact with food and the environment)
The latter I’m aware of as we have Alzheimer’s in my family and I work in the machine shop with aluminum quite often. I do wear eye and respiratory protection but I also recently researched it and it seems the link between Alzheimer’s and aluminum is still quite unclear and not firmly established.
But as I’ve said in a few replies now I’m all for study of what the systemic harms of each are. If plastics cause harm and metals cause harm then the real question is what is the nature and magnitude of those harms. I think this requires more careful study. My point is that it may be time to look at plastic pollution the way we look at CO2 pollution.
I think engineering metals have much less influence on the environment than plastics do, but I’m very in favor of more study. My point is that I think this is something we really need to be thinking about. Right now engineering as a field doesn’t spend much time thinking about environmental harms from plastic in normal goods, and we might want to spend more time on that.