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.
Global
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The disputed ‘spoonful of plastic in your brain’ study
A Nature Medicine paper reported plastic in every brain tested, rising over time, but its method and headline figure are strongly contested.
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Microplastics measurable in every one of 62 placentas tested
Using a mass-spectrometry method, US researchers found plastic in 100% of placentas, at 6.5 to 790 micrograms per gram of tissue.
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First evidence of microplastics in the human placenta
Italian researchers found plastic fragments in four of six placentas, on both the mother’s and the baby’s side.
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Microplastics found in human blood for the first time
A Dutch pilot study detected plastic particles in the blood of 17 of 22 healthy adults, at an average of 1.6 micrograms per millilitre.
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Making virgin plastic emits 5.3% of global greenhouse gases outside farming and land use
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found plastic production emitted 2.24 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2019, measured as the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2)…
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Clothes washing and tyre wear are the biggest sources of ocean microplastics
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates 1.5 million tonnes of primary microplastics reach the ocean each year, over a third from synthetic…
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About 2% of all fishing gear is lost at sea every year
Interviews with fishers worldwide show enormous annual losses of nets, lines, hooks and traps, a lethal source of ocean plastic.
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Less plastic enters the ocean than thought, but it lasts for decades
A Nature Geoscience model finds 3.2 million tonnes of floating plastic in the ocean, fed by only about 0.5 million tonnes a year, mostly…
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a plastic soup, not an island
At least 79,000 tonnes of plastic drift across 1.6 million square kilometres, and nearly half the mass is abandoned fishing nets.