A human hair is roughly 50 to 100 micrometres in width."In our laboratory, we were able to detect nine different types of plastics," said Bettina Liebmann, a researcher at the Federal Environment Agency, which analysed the samples. "It is therefore inevitable that at least some of these things will get into our lungs and digestive system.The two most common were polypropylene -- found in bottle caps, rope and strapping -- and polyethylene, present in drinking bottles and textile fibres.All consumed foods wrapped in plastic and beverages in plastic bottles, and six ate seafood.

The scientists speculated that the tiny specks -- ranging in size from 50 to 500 micrometres -- may been ingested via seafood, food wrapping, dust or plastic bottles.For Stephanie Wright, a researcher at KingCollege London, the real question is whether plastics are accumulating in the human body." Global plastic production has grown rapidly, and is currently more than 400 million tonnes per year.Each kept a week-long log of what they ate, and then provided a stool sample."We were unable to establish a reliable connection between nutritional behaviour and exposure to microplastics," said lead author Philipp Schwabl, a researcher at the Medical University of Vienna.All eight volunteers in a small pilot study were found to have passed several types of plastic, with an average of 20 micro-particles per 10 grams of stool, researchers reported Tuesday at a gastroenterology congress in Vienna."Further studies are needed to assess the potential dangers of microplastics for humans.

Microplastics in freshwater insects raise global fears about plastic pollutionMicroplastics found in table salt brands in study conducted by IIT-BombayPlastics blamed for rise in penis malformation.It is estimated that two to five percent of plastics wind up in the ocean, where much of it breaks PETG shrink film Manufacturers down into tiny particles.In earlier studies on animals, the highest concentrations of microplastics were found in the stomach and intestines, but smaller amounts have also been detected in blood, lymph and the liver.Health impacts unknownScientists not involved in the study said it was too limited in scope to draw any firm conclusions, especially about health impacts."What is unknown is whether the concentration of plastic being ingested is higher than that coming out, due to particles crossing the gut wall," she said.Together with polystyrene (utensils, cups, coolers) and polyethylene (plastic bags), they accounted for more than 95 percent of the particles detected."Schwabl recruited five women and three men, aged 33 to 65, in Finland, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy, Poland, Russia, Japan and Austria."There is no published evidence to indicate what the health effects might be."

There are initial indications that microplastics can damage the gastrointestinal tract by promoting inflammatory reactions or absorbing harmful substances," Schwabl said.Bits of plastic have been detected in the faeces of people in Europe, Russia and Japan, according to research claiming to show for the first time the widespread presence of plastics in the human food chain."Much more research is needed, he said, before we can determine the origin of plastics found in the gut, and especially whether they are harmful."I'm not at all surprised, or particularly worried by these findings," commented Alistair Boxall, a professor in environmental science at the University of York in Britain."Microplastics have been found in tap water, bottled water, fish and mussel tissue, and even in beer," he added.

Some 1,00,000 marine creatures die every year from plastic entanglement and these are the ones found. Approximately 1 million sea birds also die from plastic.Gigantic whales end up dead on the shores of beaches and a majority of times, the cause of their untimely deaths is swallowing pounds of plastic. After turning the littered Versova beach into a pristine one after two years of mammoth efforts, Mr Shah has now got the support of 20 trained sea divers to pull out the plastic waste from the oceans. “The ocean has been telling us in every possible way to remove plastic from its depths before it is too late,” says Afroz Shah, who was awarded the Champions of the Earth award by the UN for his efforts to clean Versova beach.His fear is not without reason. While this was just a check-up, the ocean cleaning will begin once the monsoons end, informs Shah. The plastic goes right inside the ocean through the gyres.

It won’t be long before this plastic waste comes back to bite us humans.“Ever since I shifted to a new apartment in Versova, my plan was to do something for the beach and then move to the ocean. Marine debris can be simple items such as discarded cans, cigarette butts, or plastic bags that end up in the ocean potentially harming marine life. By 2050, there could be more plastic than marine life in the oceans, says a 2017 United Nations report. Two years ago, a pod of 13 sperm whales washed up on shore dead from ingestion of plastic waste.The volunteers have collected millions of kg of waste from the 2.5-km beach. But I am going to do the most I can,” he says.Whales are noticeable for their size but there may be numerous other creatures that sink into the ocean after ingesting plastic. If the plastic is not recycled, it goes straight into the gyres and further into the ocean. This is the new mantra of Mumbai-based lawyer Afroz Shah, the man famous for spearheading Mumbai’s Versova beach clean-up drive.Afroz Shah, who is now 37, started his journey of beach cleaning in 2015 along with his 84-year-old neighbour Harbansh Mathur, who has since passed away. A recent BBC Blue Planet II documentary series included pictures of seabirds feeding plastic to their chicks, and a huge whale with a plastic bucket stuck in its mouth.  

It is one step at a time and oceans are our next step. A study called, ‘Human footprint in the abyss: 30 year records of deep-sea plastic debris’, which will be published soon by the journal Marine Policy, found a plastic bag nearly 36,000 feet below the surface in the Mariana Trench, which is the ocean’s deepest spot. It goes into the ocean gyres (a gyre is any large system of rotating ocean currents) pushing the debris deep in the ocean.The whole of last week from May 21 to 26, four divers from Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra, dropped deep into the ocean to clean the core.Every year, the world uses 500 billion plastic bags and that contributes to about eight million metric tonnes of plastic that end up in the oceans.

Through his initiative, which he calls ‘Date With The Ocean’, he has inspired thousands of volunteers to join him in cleaning the beach every Sunday for the last three years, including film stars, cricketers, businessmen and China easy peel lidding film even politicians. We will start the process fully once the rains get over,” he says.                    

The problem of marine debris caught his eye long ago. Soon, the food chain will have the same plastic ending up in human bellies as well. Now, the man wants to start cleaning the ocean. “I will be fooling myself if I say I can eradicate all of the plastic from the ocean.Do you want clean beaches? Then dive into the ocean.Mr Shah is among ocean and nature lovers the world over who have woken up to the threat posed by plastic to oceans, marine life and to the human race.