Microplastics, Public Health Myth or Menace

Microplastics, Public Health Myth or Menace - Ian Mudway

Рет қаралды 15,663

9 ай бұрын

Microplastics - tiny plastic particles less than 5mm long - were first identified in the ocean but are now known to be ubiquitous throughout the environment, within soil, air food and water. Recently, microplastics have been detected in human blood, placenta, and other tissues (liver, lung, colon) raising concerns about potential adverse health effects.
This lecture reviews the science on microplastics and whether we should be concerned about them, compared with other known environmental hazards.
This lecture was recorded by Dr Ian Mudway on 25 September 2023 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
Ian is Visiting Professor of Environmental Health.
He is a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at Imperial, a member of the MRC Centre for Environment and Health; MRC & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma and the NIHR-PHE Health Protection Research Units in Environmental Exposures and Health and Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards.
www.gresham.ac.uk/speakers/dr...
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/m...
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Пікірлер: 50

@debbielondon1809 2 ай бұрын

An extraordinary lecture. A privilege to be able to access this. Thank you to every one involved.

@wayne00k 9 ай бұрын

Oh - just a note - Gresham lectures are now monetized. Wasn't so bad a week ago - but this presentation was interrupted by 5 long commercials within the first 18 minutes here in the USA. Worse was one commercial would lead to another unless I intervened. I hope that this isn't a trend or permanent because these lectures are quite valuable to me and have been a part of my daily routine for the past 4 + years

@charlibravo371 5 ай бұрын

Try KZfaq premium. For the cost of a meal a month you can watch unlimited videos and never ever see an ad. It's worth it for me since I listen to a lot of podcasts and lectures and I stead of paying Spotify I just have one KZfaq premium subscription.

@GrahamCLester Ай бұрын

This is exactly the sort of information that we all need if we are going to tackle pollution and waste effectively.

@emarsk77 9 ай бұрын

What an excellent lecture. It also contains a depressing truth: "they have capacity and nothing to do with it. So they have to innovate […] into the only market which is going to be able to replace that. And that's consumer products." This is the reason why we are cruising at full speed into a disaster: we are - as a society, and many of us as individuals as well - inescapably driven by greed. Not well-being. Not quality of life. And most certainly not long-term altruism.

@aubreypressley1450 3 ай бұрын

It will be sad for humanity to end, or brush up against extinction, all because those in power wished to chase profit. Profit over the environment. Profit over people. Profit over the future.

@tazboy1934 2 ай бұрын

That's why atheism shud go...we need religion and belief in God@@aubreypressley1450

@thatguyswavomeer 8 ай бұрын

Plastic recycling is counter-effective, it produces even more harmful waste than it was supposed to prevent. It is also a very convenient excuse for producers to shift responsibility for handling the plastic packaging on consumers - so that it is their business decision to use it (and their profit) but it is us, the buyers who have to take care of the outcome, at our own cost.

@itsmegfc1743 6 ай бұрын

I’d like to see the data that shows even more harmful waste is produced from recycling plastics. If there is data showing this I’d hazard a guess that it would be applicable to all recycling. This does not make sense to me. And I think it’s consumers of plastic packaging that litter it, so it seems quite right that the consumer takes at least some of the pain. The one take from this we should all be thinking about is waste (all waste) and how we deal with it and minimise it. That requires a multi faceted approach. And recycling will be part of that approach.

@MeowMeowisme Күн бұрын

This is a fantastic lecture. Just straight to the points. I work in the polymer industry for over 20 years and I have always told people that yes we have a huge problem and it's not microplastics, it's the waste and additives that we should be concerned with. Microplastics is just a flashy topic that people talk about to make themselves feel better but much bigger problem lurks beneath. Polymeric substance are usually stable and are much less likely to cause harm to us but the additives and fillers are known to do damages to us which we know for sure. We need to ban certain plasticisers and filler not to ban plastics as whole. They are different. While REACH regulations are maybe too aggressive, they are moving the in right direction.

@samuelelsby1800 9 ай бұрын

A lecture is ALWAYS so much better when it’s not read from a script.

@Edo9River 9 ай бұрын

I applaud your presentation of the reality of our situation now. The public includes the urban poor. And the waste location of waste products

@iZenZation 20 күн бұрын

Very informative, thank you!

@simonpenny2564 Ай бұрын

Thankyou! This lecture is exemplary of balanced argument informed by solid science. Sadly less common than it should be.

@mollyjones3223 9 ай бұрын

My brother was an engineer involved in the design and testing of the plastic parts of cars. He and five other men at the same factory had esophageal cencer before age 60.

@logo2462 9 ай бұрын

Seems like the search for microplastics in tissue is well motivated. While there is hype and hysteria about the search that raises suspicions, other institutions will keep those suspicions in check by quickly trying to reproduce and double check any findings. Perhaps there are more interesting and concerning questions to be discussed in the area of environmental health, but that is a question of awareness campaigns and political contributions.

@skeletalbassman1028 9 ай бұрын

Much needed lecture!!!

@guitarsandsuchetc 6 ай бұрын

The water in the plastic water bottle taste horrible. No wonder all ages would drink sugary drinks.

@neetfreek9921 4 ай бұрын

Soda cans have plastic linings inside them

@erizmo4468 16 күн бұрын

I know that there is less information on nano plastics, but the main concern on human health comes from nano plastics because of their ability to breach any barrier so I wonder how big of an issue this is🤔

@angelafloodgate4437 4 ай бұрын

8:17 I’m no biologist but I was told that the digestive system belongs to the outward milieu. Plastics have to be very small (chemical level) to be taken up into the bloodstream.

@samimakinen4250 3 ай бұрын

Cicartte filer every inhale exhale, plastic..... maybe i quit smoking

@Edo9River 9 ай бұрын

I would say that in ten years there will NOT be a reduction in any of the data 😢😢.ALL the trends are estimated no but in ten years the effects will be measurable. And in ten years all the gaps of data will be filled in. In the future the number of urban poor will increase in exposure and and in concentration this is coming reliably by any projection 😮😮😮😮😮

@Neilhuny 9 ай бұрын

An extraordinary lecture - and rather depressing! We humans aren't great at looking after our world, our environment

@joewebster903 7 ай бұрын

Well done and balanced however FYI there have been solutions to these problems for many years but the disruptive solutions have been suppressed by those who would continue to benefit greeting from the status of increasing waste and now political pressure and a global paradigm shift is choking political,and the giants of industry who perpetuate the problem and pay the salaries of these politicians The global industry of manufactures have changed their internal policies over the last 25 years and these changes are the root to our problem There are many solutions!!

@Jeremy-Ai 2 күн бұрын

I am reviewing historical comments. This “area” appears to be confusing. I have a responsibility. Not to myself or to corporate/ governance or capital gain. I have a responsibility to truth, and action accordingly. This “ plastic scenario” seems obvious to me to resolve … geopolitically and also through capitalism methods , also fiscally and environmentally responsible. Would you be willing to share “very vague” opinions to correct this scenario? It is safe to say “lunatics are running the asylum “. I would rather ask the lunatics than the Asylum professionals running it. Do not respond unless you feel comfortable doing so. This area is obvious. There are soooo Many , many more to address. Unfortunately…. this is a message that will lnot reach you. Well…. It is naive to assume you are the intended recipient. Please share. Or don’t if it is untrue or uncomfortable. Thank you. Jeremy

@angelafloodgate4437 4 ай бұрын

1:01:37 it’s to late already I’m afraid

@prestonrutherford3997 5 күн бұрын

Plastic bad big and small. The last 15 minutes of this felt like consumer blaming. ALL THE MONEY IS IN THE POCKETS OF THE PRODUCERS. They need incentives to make the changes consumers want or need.

@cliveb9771 9 ай бұрын

In the chart of “man-made” material compared to biomass one of the biggest contributors is aggregate. It is stretch to call this man-made in the same way plastics are - it is mostly gravel and crushed rock which was there anyway irrespective of man with some material recycled from other categories such as concrete and bricks. It is a bit sensationalist to report it in that way simply to get close to the biomass number.

@JH-pt6ih 9 ай бұрын

Not even four minutes in and he's tossing out a red herring - the fact that most of the plastic manufactured is in landfills and not floating in the ocean or littering the land. So what? It's irrelevant; it's the stuff that isn't discarded properly that is the problem. I'm starting to wonder about Gresham - they have a video of a guy talking about C0^2 and he shows a satellite video he claims shows an enormous release of CO^2 into the atmosphere during winter as the stuff that falls in autumn decomposes. But there are two problems with it - one, dead vegetation doesn't rapidly decompose in the cold of winter, it remains under the snow and starts to decay in the spring with warmer temperatures and increased water. You don't see a massive increase in CO^2 during this time because it is offset by the new growth absorbing - almost like it's a cycle! The second problem is that the satellite imagery is from NASA and NASA describes the increase in C0^2 coming from increased usage of heating fuel and related winter fuel use increase (like driving more because it's too cold to walk, etc.). Something weird starting to go on at Gresham.

@cliveb9771 7 ай бұрын

@@anthonyrozewski2486I’m educated enough to know the difference between aggregate (which is what my comment was about) and concrete which apparently you seem to think it was about.

@johnclements6614 4 ай бұрын

Aggregate weathers which can lead to acidification of rivers and other things. It depends on the chemical composition of the rock. By reducing the native rock to gravel we are exposing a much larger surface area to the air and water so greatly increasing the rate of weathering. In the UK there is a problem with run off with associated with mining. look up acid rock drainage. if those same rocks are used for embankment construction they will behave in a similar manner to mine tips with the weathering depending effected by the grading. I would assume that the mine waste would have a larger number of fine partials so would be more reactive if that's the case. Fine particles are not wanted in construction of embankments etc, I assume they would be used as fillers.

@NegarRiahi 5 ай бұрын

Composite materials

@vishwa77770 9 ай бұрын

Wonderful session Congratulations Lan

@terenceiutzi4003 5 ай бұрын

Every article that I have found says the microplastics that have been found have been cellulose. That is that important plant fiber that none of us get enough of! And remember that anything that gets into our book stream has to be small enough to move through the walls of our small intestines. That means it is definitely small enough to move back through the walls of our colon carrying cholesterol with it!

@davidpayant8684 9 ай бұрын

I don’t care whether plastics hurt me. Big plastics manufacturers should not be allowed to fill our environment and our landfills with plastic. I did not consent to a massive experiment on the human race. If you make a product you should pay for it’s disposal. So this lecture will make plastic manufacturers happy but ignores real issue. 🐝🐝