Is it even possible to determine what a general "safe" level of microplastics is, or do individuals vary too greatly in their body's ability to resist exposure? Does it depend on amount of exposure, or length of time exposed, or both? Are there certain kinds prone to cause more chronic illness than others? Does their effect come into play only in combination with other polluting chemicals, or do they and the other chemicals magnify each other's effects? Every question you might ask seems unanswerable in terms of even a vaguely approximate chain of causality.
You’re absolutely correct about that. However, what is the possibility of ever returning to a state of zero exposure? Even if you completely banned all plastics production and consumption worldwide immediately, you’d still have what is currently present in all the material objects in humanity’s possession, plus what has already been released into the environment. How many centuries would it take for the ecosystem to cleanse itself? Still, I realize you have to start someplace to reverse the trend. Do you know of anyone who has developed a really practical, affordable way to live plastics free and still participate seamlessly in modern civilized life?
Is it even possible to determine what a general "safe" level of microplastics is, or do individuals vary too greatly in their body's ability to resist exposure? Does it depend on amount of exposure, or length of time exposed, or both? Are there certain kinds prone to cause more chronic illness than others? Does their effect come into play only in combination with other polluting chemicals, or do they and the other chemicals magnify each other's effects? Every question you might ask seems unanswerable in terms of even a vaguely approximate chain of causality.
I mean, the natural level of exposure to microplastics would be zero, right?
You’re absolutely correct about that. However, what is the possibility of ever returning to a state of zero exposure? Even if you completely banned all plastics production and consumption worldwide immediately, you’d still have what is currently present in all the material objects in humanity’s possession, plus what has already been released into the environment. How many centuries would it take for the ecosystem to cleanse itself? Still, I realize you have to start someplace to reverse the trend. Do you know of anyone who has developed a really practical, affordable way to live plastics free and still participate seamlessly in modern civilized life?