this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
381 points (96.8% liked)

News

23371 readers
5937 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Land-based protein sources like chicken, beef, pork and tofu contain as many microplastics as fishes, study finds

Microplastics have been found in nearly 90 per cent of sources of proteins, including meat and plant-based, according to a new study that serves as a startling reminder of how prolific plastic pollution has become.

While the presence of microplastics in commercial fish and shellfish has been known for long, there has been little research into terrestrial protein sources like beef and chicken that make up a large part of the Western diet.

A team of researchers studied samples from 16 different protein types destined for American consumers, including seafood, pork, beef, chicken, tofu, and three different plant-based meat alternatives. They found microplastic particles in 88 per cent of protein food samples tested.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

You may as well consider it the lead of the 21st century.

Children in 3045 will be mockingly deriding us in history class for how flippant we were about plastics.

[–] feedum_sneedson 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Really? There doesn't seem to be much evidence of any sort, and I don't have a horse in the race. Other than my body.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Theres plenty of evidence that it causes inflammation, and your body cant break it down. So if it wiggles itself into a spot in your body that isnt easily flushed, its going to stay there causing inflammation basically forever.

On top of that, "microplastic" is a catchall term. Rubber dust from car wheels is a microplastic, that you breathe in any time youre within hearing distance of a road. All that rubber in your lungs, alone, cannot be good.

Thats not even thinking about all the other forms of plastic, or their degredation chemicals, or the films and chem linings they carry.

[–] feedum_sneedson 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Sure, particulate matter of any sort isn't a good thing to inhale. I'm just wondering if there's anything specific to plastic. Some of the additives are proven to be awful but e.g. polyethylene has so little available surface energy I wonder if it can be doing much, chemically speaking. If it's not this it'll be something else, I'm sure.

[–] CosmicCleric 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’m just wondering if there’s anything specific to plastic.

From this article...

What if any damage microplastics may do when they get into our bodies is not clear, but a growing community of researchers investigating these questions thinks there is reason for concern. Inhaled particles might irritate and damage the lungs, akin to the damage caused by other particulate matter. And although the composition of plastic particles varies, some contain chemicals that are known to interfere with the body’s hormones.

[–] feedum_sneedson 2 points 10 months ago

Okay, yes, that's my current understanding.

[–] Woht24 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Bold of you to assume there will be a 3045 for the human race.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh, easy, we are functional cockroaches of survival.

Maybe we will be a different species by that point, but our descendants are still in many ways us.

[–] Woht24 1 points 10 months ago

Decent point but I also wouldn't put it past us to completely extinct ourselves one day.