Comment submitted by Kimi Wei
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Summary: An individual commenter argues that microplastics are severe environmental contaminants that should be added to the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List. They emphasize the pervasive nature of microplastics in the food chain and human bodies, advocating for a reduction in plastic manufacturing and disposal.
Microplastics must absolutely be added to the list of horrible environmental contaminants, as they are among the worst in this world.
Microplastics are so tiny that they get transpired into rain water and we end up eating them when we eat animals that have ingested them, and drinking them in water. They have been found in the breast milk of human mothers everywhere, and are also found in the bodies of Amazon indigenous people who have absolute zero contact with societies outside of their jungle environments.
In other words, we cannot control or slow the presence of microplastics once they are created. We have to stop them much sooner than that – by limiting the amount of plastic that exists in the world, and that get discarded. Even responsible discarding is not responsible enough. And there are alternatives: packing peanuts made out of potato starch, disposable utensils made out of 100% plant ingredients, and innovative replacements are being created all the time. It is time to stop manufacturing and discarding single and limited use plastics. Maybe all plastics!
Beyond just existing, entering living bodies and being much too microscopically small to ever expel, microplastics are horrible because they soak up toxins which they transfer to the bodies they enter.
They are bad, bad, bad.