We are not only poisoning the wildlife around us by scattering millions of tons of toxic chemicals on agricultural fields each year, watching in horror as hundreds of thousands of animals suffer and die—mammals, birds, insects, and aquatic creatures alike. Sadly, we are also poisoning our own children, saturating their vulnerable bodies with dangerous toxins.
Today's news is grim but expected. Plastic pollution has reached a critical level: scientists have identified a new disease, "plasticosis," which now joins the list of humanity’s deadly diseases.
What will our children die from tomorrow? To what state have we brought this planet? The new diagnosis—plasticosis—means you are poisoned, and there is no cure.
“Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich nur stärker.” — “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
(Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher.)
But in the real world, things aren’t that simple. The epic philosophical principles of German thinkers often remain just beautiful words.
In real medicine, we see an increasing number of chronic diseases that don’t kill immediately but do so gradually. Slowly. Painfully. Filling the shortened remaining years of life with pain and suffering.
Poisoning from cumulative (accumulating) anthropogenic toxins. We humans created these poisons ourselves. And we are poisoning ourselves with them. Along with wild animals and birds, too.
Recently, I wrote about the mass death of wild animals and birds in the agricultural south of our country. Poison for rodents was simply scattered across the fields. We, along with many colleagues from the Russian Taiga project, appealed to the supervisory authorities for an investigation. The “punishment” (and yes, this word is in quotes!) was purely nominal for such barbaric treatment of nature and people! But it was important that SOME investigation and punishment of the guilty took place! And that was achieved.
But now to another matter.
The MAIN question we cannot yet put before the authorities or society:
HOW MUCH OF THESE TOXINS ARE GETTING INTO HUMAN BODIES?
HOW MUCH ARE WE POISONING OURSELVES?
ISN’T IT TIME TO CONSIDER THIS ISSUE SERIOUSLY AND COMPLETELY BAN THE USE OF PESTICIDES?
Now here’s some more interesting news on the topic.
It turns out there are vast amounts of substances not even considered toxins. Yet they are, and they lead to dangerous chronic diseases.
It’s plastic waste.
Scientists have described a previously undocumented disease caused by microplastics.
The new disease is called "plasticosis" (plasticosis). It follows the pattern of other fibroses—pathological overgrowth of connective tissues due to chronic inflammation.
It is linked to the accumulation of microplastics in the body. Researchers demonstrated how, in seabirds, microplastic particles entering the body through water and food lead to scarring of internal organ tissues and severe health disruptions.
Details of the study were published in the "Journal of Hazardous Materials."
Here are a few direct quotes from the most interesting parts of the study:
"As biota is increasingly exposed to plastic pollution, it is essential to closely examine the sublethal ‘hidden’ consequences of plastic consumption. This new field of research has been limited to model species in controlled laboratory conditions, with little data available for wild, free-living organisms.
Thus, wedge-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna carneipes), highly exposed to plastic, are a suitable species for studying these impacts in an ecologically meaningful way."
"The presence of plastics was closely associated with widespread scarring and significant alterations, even the loss of tissue structure, in the mucosa and submucosa. Additionally, although indigestible natural products like pumice are also found in the gastrointestinal tract, they do not cause similar scarring. This underscores the unique pathological properties of plastics and raises concerns for other species affected by plastic ingestion. Moreover, the degree and severity of fibrosis documented in this study confirm a new fibrotic disease caused by plastics, which we define as 'plasticosis.’”
"Plastic-induced fibrosis is a relatively recent discovery, with only a few studies published over the past two years, and it has not yet been formally classified."
"While there is debate about the extent to which plastic harms populations or ecosystems, there is growing evidence that plastic entering organisms leads to long-term and varied consequences for a wide range of fauna."
"Large or sharp macroplastics entering the body can break down into smaller fragments, classified as microplastics (1 µm-5 mm) or nanoplastics (<1>
"Microscopic plastics can also pass through the blood-brain barrier and the placenta."
"While much of the research on plastic consumption focuses on non-human animals, a recent article (Ragusa et al.) suggests that due to the ubiquity of plastic and exposure to plastic from birth, human inhalation and ingestion of plastic are also inevitable. In this light, it is critical to better understand plastic's impact on biota to understand how our own tissues may respond to this pollutant."
“... Due to the widespread presence of plastic and exposure to plastic from birth, human inhalation and ingestion of plastic are also inevitable."
The list of deadly diseases now includes plasticosis, and our children are inevitably contaminated with the most dangerous chemicals. Our blood is filled with the trash that has buried the planet.
There’s no need for further commentary—by protecting nature, we are protecting ourselves!
© PAVEL PASHKOV
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