Editor's note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published on October 4, 2017.
A huge amount of plastic is entering the environment through single-use plastic bottles, bags, and microfibers from clothing. While you may not experience the direct impact of waste in your daily life, it is literally choking our ecosystem.
The amount of plastic entering the environment increases every year as manufacturers continue to produce products in single-use containers and consumers demand a disposable lifestyle.
If practices don’t change, the amount of plastic flowing into the ocean each year is estimated to reach up to 26 million tonnes by 2025.One According to the environmental group Ocean Conservancy, some plastics take so long to break down that they can remain recognizable for up to 400 years.
Heavily polluted areas of the ocean are called garbage patches, and currently cover about 40 percent of the world's ocean surface.2 But the problem isn’t limited to larger pieces of debris that resist breaking down. Some plastics break down easily in ocean currents into tiny particles less than 5 millimeters (0.19 inches). These pieces can travel farther and faster, and are now being found in the Arctic Ocean.
Each large ocean body has eddies, circular systems of currents formed by global wind patterns that circulate water around the globe.three Studies have shown that some plastics, microfibers, and plastic beads from facial scrubs break down into microparticles that are then transported around the world through water harvested for salt.
Ocean plastic pollutes sea salt
A 2015 study published in Environmental Science and Technology found that salt sold and consumed in China contained microplastic particles from disposable bottles, polyethylene, cellophane, and several other types of plastic. The highest levels of plastic were found in salt taken from seawater.4 In other words, buying sea salt for your health could mean contaminating your body with plastic.
The study found more than 250 plastic particles in a pound of sea salt. Dr. Sherry Mason, a chemistry professor in the Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences at the State University of New York at Fredonia, commented on the findings before leading another study assessing the amount of plastic consumed in salt worldwide. Following the Chinese study, she said:5
“Plastic has become such a common pollutant that it seems like it doesn't matter whether you find it in sea salt on supermarket shelves in China or the United States. I'd also like to see some 'me too me' research.”
Two years later, in 2017, she published a study showing that Americans could be ingesting up to 660 microplastic particles each year, even if they don't consume more than the recommended 2.3 grams of salt per day.6 However, about 90 percent of Americans consume more salt than that, meaning we are likely ingesting more plastic particles than estimated.
Mason worked with researchers at the University of Minnesota to examine the amount of plastic found in beer, tap water, and salt. The study evaluated 12 different types of salt from grocery stores around the world, 10 of which were sea salts. Mason believes sea salt is more susceptible to plastic pollution because it is harvested from seawater, evaporated, and left behind only salt. Mason said:7
“It's not that Chinese sea salt is worse than American sea salt, it's that all sea salt comes from the same source, so there's going to be a consistent problem. I think that's what we're seeing. I hope that this doesn't lead to (consumers) switching brands and going for table salt or mined salt.
People want to disconnect and say, 'I'm okay with going to Starbucks every day and getting a disposable coffee cup'… We need to focus on the flow of plastic and the prevalence of plastic in society and find other materials that we can use instead.”
UN declares war on ocean plastics
Researchers believe that most plastic pollution comes from single-use plastics and microfibers. About 13 tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, which is the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck full of plastic into the ocean every minute.8 If nothing happens, up to two truckloads of plastic could end up in the ocean every minute.
In 2017, the United Nations (UN) Environment announced a massive global effort to end ocean pollution called #CleanSeas.9 The campaign calls on governments around the world to pass plastic reduction policies, mandate product redesigns, and urge consumers to change their habits so that irreversible damage to our oceans can be prevented.
Since the campaign began, 69 countries have already joined the campaign.10 Including Indonesia, Costa Rica, and Uruguay. The plastic pollution problem is a combination of physical plastics that damage ecosystems and animal life, and toxins that cling to plastics and enter animals’ bodies, destroying the health of wildlife and the people who eat their meat.
England, Scotland and Germany are just three countries that have developed and institutionalised recycling programmes to reduce plastic pollution in their countries.11 Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Agency, commented on the environmental damage caused by plastics:12
“It’s past time to address the plastic problem that is ravaging our oceans. Plastic pollution is washing up on Indonesian beaches, sinking to the bottom of the Arctic, and finding its way up the food chain and onto our dinner plates. For too long, we’ve watched the problem get worse. It has to stop.”
Countries are slowly waking up to the destruction of marine life and beaches caused by irresponsible disposal of plastic products. After the Daily Mail launched a campaign, the UK announced a ban on plastic microbeads, commonly used in facial scrubs.13
Plastic particles enter multiple nutrient sources
Studies have shown that plastic has become so deeply embedded in the ocean food chain that it has contaminated the bodies of living creatures, from zooplankton to lobsters, crabs and fish.14 — All the creatures that other animals eat at the top of the food chain. While smaller microscopic particles of plastic threaten the lives of marine life and the creatures that eat them, so do larger pieces of plastic in the ocean, as this short news video shows.
There is an assumption that ingesting plastic and the toxins that plastic absorbs from the environment is dangerous to health. However, I firmly believe this is true, but the media constantly points out that scientists cannot prove the theory with controlled studies. Because almost everyone on the planet has been exposed to plants, animals, and water contaminated with microplastic particles.15
Plastic particles themselves are dangerous when ingested. But marine animals face a double risk because plastic particles attract and absorb chemical toxins. In a unique study from the University of California, Davis,16 Researchers assessed the rates at which five commonly used plastics absorbed chemicals from seawater.
By placing different types of plastic pellets in net bags tied to docks at the study site, the researchers were able to measure the amount of persistent organic pollutants absorbed by the plastics.
They found that the two types of plastic used in the largest number of products absorbed the highest levels of pollutants. The researchers, led by PhD student Chelsea Lockman, expected that the plastic pellets would absorb increasing amounts of pollutants over a period of months until they reached saturation. Instead, they found that it took between 20 and 44 months for the plastic pellets to stop absorbing toxins. Lockman commented:17
“We were surprised to find that even a year later, some of the plastics continued to absorb contaminants. As the plastics continue to break down, they are likely to become increasingly hazardous to organisms as they absorb more and more contaminants.”
Link between plastic particles and liver toxicity
Another study found that the accumulation of chemical pollutants absorbed by plastic microparticles increased liver toxicity and pathology in marine animals that ingested them.18
When fish were fed similar plastic particles that had not absorbed additional chemical toxins, the fish also showed signs of stress, but much less severely than fish fed the chemical-laced fragments. Bioaccumulation of plastics and toxins is common in marine animals because both plastics and contaminants are resistant to metabolic or mechanical degradation.
Another study assessing the presence of microfibers in tap water19 Researchers found that 83 percent of the samples collected from 12 countries were contaminated with plastic fibers. The United States had the highest rate of contamination. Plastic fibers were found in 94 percent of the sites sampled, including the Capitol Building, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters, and Trump Tower in New York.
What's the best salt option for you?
If you believe that eating too much salt will make you thirsty or increase your blood pressure, you’re probably wrong. Studies have not supported these claims.20,21 Instead, the body needs both sodium and chloride ions, which make up salt, but because the body cannot produce both, it must obtain them through food.
However, not all salt is created equal. Refined table salt is almost always sodium chloride, with a few more artificial chemicals added. Unprocessed salts, such as my favorite Himalayan pink salt, have a different balance of sodium and chloride, with added natural minerals that your body needs, such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium.22 It is these other minerals that make the salt pink.
Himalayan salt is mined from salt seams that were formed long before plastics and other toxic chemicals were manufactured. When the Himalayas were formed and the seafloor rose, these salt seams rose from the ocean, were later protected by lava, and were covered by snow and ice for thousands of years.
When compared to salt mined from oceans full of persistent organic pollutants and microplastic particles, Himalayan salt is a far superior choice when looking to reduce your toxic load.
Reduce your toxic load with simple everyday choices
Every choice we make every day has an impact on our environment and our health. By deciding to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic containers and single-use plastic-wrapped products, you are impacting your health and reducing your exposure to bisphenol A and other chemicals that leach into our food and water, as well as the environment.
Glass is a healthy, reusable, and recyclable option for home use. If you are purchasing non-food items, look for products packaged in glass rather than plastic, and try to recycle that glass.
