Anywhere and everywhere: Microplastics and their unseen harm

Microplastics have become an undeniable yet unseen fact of life and can now even be found in our bloodstream

The tiny pieces of mostly invisible plastic have already been found almost everywhere on Earth, from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains, as well as in the air, soil and food chain. They even discovered microplastics in human blood and in the lungs as feared. So, it is understandable that professor Nüket Sivri, from Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa Environmental Engineering Department, defines microplastics as the most difficult problem for nature to solve.

Qazet.az presents this information.

"The impact of microplastics on human health is the most difficult question to answer. We also lack information about their presence in different environmental matrices such as distribution and monitoring," she said.

Sivri, who has been conducting research in coastal areas of Istanbul, especially the Küçükçekmece Lagoon, since 2006, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they have encountered plastics in living things at different trophic levels, from invertebrates to marine mammals and even seabirds.

Noting that microplastics are a bad legacy from our ancestors and that we must minimize the damage of plastic waste for future generations, Sivri said that the pressure of macroplastics on the growth and development of organisms has already been the subject of many documentaries.