Plastic detected in almost every human brain sample, at much lower levels
A 2026 study found micro- and nanoplastics in all 35 healthy brain samples and in 99.4% of samples from people with brain tumours.
Individuals
-
-
Microplastic fibres found deep inside living human lungs
UK surgeons and scientists found microplastics in 11 of 13 lung tissue samples, including the deepest regions of the lung.
-
Bottled water contains around 240,000 plastic particles per litre
Columbia researchers used a new imaging method to count nanoplastics in bottled water and found roughly ten times more particles than earlier estimates.
-
People swallow and breathe in up to 121,000 microplastic particles a year
The first systematic estimate of human microplastic intake found tens of thousands of particles a year, far more for people who drink only bottled…
-
Indoor air delivers about 68,000 lung-penetrating plastic particles a day
French researchers found the air in homes and cars carries far more fine microplastic than earlier estimates, roughly 100 times higher.
-
The ‘credit card of plastic a week’ claim is wrong by about a million times
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s viral estimate that people ingest 5 grams of plastic a week was re-analysed and found to be roughly…
-
Lancet Countdown: plastics cost more than US$1.5 trillion a year in health damage
The Lancet’s new annual tracker calls plastics a grave, growing and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health.
-
One plastic chemical linked to 356,000 heart-disease deaths a year
New York University (NYU) researchers estimate the plasticiser di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was linked to 13.5% of all cardiovascular deaths among 55–64-year-olds worldwide in 2018.
-
Heart patients with plastic in their arteries had 4.5 times the risk of death or stroke
A NEJM study found microplastics in 58% of artery plaques, and those patients suffered far more heart attacks, strokes and deaths over three years.
-
144 chemicals known to be hazardous are actively used in plastics
The Endocrine Society and International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN)’s guide catalogues the plastic additives linked to cancer, diabetes, infertility and developmental harm.