It is found that drinking hot drinks from paper cups releases 25,000 plastic particles in 15 minutes. In June 5, 438+065, 438+October, 2020, a research team of Indian Institute of Technology found that hot drinks (such as coffee or tea) would be released after about 25, 438+05 minutes.
In the experiment, the researchers first poured hot water with the temperature of 85 ~ 90℃ into a disposable paper cup, and then let it stand for 15 minutes (because most people are used to drinking it within 15 minutes after getting a hot drink). Then, the researchers analyzed the hot liquid with fluorescence microscope, and examined the changes of physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the plastic lining of paper cups.
Results It was observed by scanning electron microscope that microplastics particles were released into hot liquid. About 100ml paper cups can precipitate about 250 million microplastics, and some toxic heavy metals such as lead, chromium and cadmium are also detected. That is to say, if you drink three cups of hot drinks in a paper cup every day, about 750 million microplastics will enter the body with the hot drinks every day.
In 2004, microplastics first entered the human vision. In 2004, Richard Thompson, a scholar at Plymouth University in England, first put forward the concept of "microplastics". Microplastics refers to a material consisting of solid particles containing polymers with a diameter less than 5 mm, and its main components include polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polylactic acid and polyethylene terephthalate, which are neither soluble in water nor biodegradable.
At present, many countries and regions have introduced plastic restriction measures, not only from the perspective of environmental protection, but also from the perspective of its harm to human body.
It is found that if microplastics enters the body, it will be difficult to get out, and it will collide and rub with the blood entering various organs of the body, thus causing various inflammations. At the same time, microplastics will release toxic chemicals, which will destroy our immunity. Therefore, if microplastics is ingested for a long time, the impact on health will be very serious, such as the probability of cancer will be greatly increased.
In addition, microplastics may have a chain reaction in the ecological food chain. For example, microplastics enters the soil and ocean, and then it is absorbed by plants and animals, while human beings are at the top of the food chain, so it is hard not to be affected.
Plastic has entered the human body, and the problem of plastic pollution is becoming more and more serious. 20 18, 10122 October, a research report was published at the European Gastroenterology Conference. Microplastics is everywhere in life and is eaten by human beings every day.
After studying and analyzing volunteers from Austria, Italy, Finland, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Britain for a period of time, it was found that all the fecal samples of these volunteers were positive for microplastics, and each10g of feces contained about 20 pieces of microplastics (plastic with a size of 50 to 500 microns).
The plastics involved are polyethylene (the main component of plastic bags), polypropylene (the main component of plastic bottle caps), polyvinyl chloride (the main component of plastic pipes) and so on, and these microplastics can't be digested when they gather in the human body, which is extremely harmful to the human body.
Faced with this situation, we must act quickly if we want to change it completely. The first task is to reduce the use of plastic products from the root, improve the recycling rate and prevent the increase of global plastic pollution. This is not only responsible for the natural environment, but also for our human future.