At some point in the last five years, microplastics went from being an environmental issue to being a medical issue. It started off with fish, sea salt, and bottled water – the type of discoveries that were scary to think about. Now, it’s in our blood, our lungs, the placenta, coronary arteries, and even, as recent research shows, in our brains. And these particles are no longer just going through us.

It is the findings related to the brain which have made the biggest impression on the scientific community, especially because of its location in the body’s protection. The reason for having the blood-brain barrier is the fact that it is supposed to block any foreign matter. This is the most tightly controlled barrier and it was believed that it would be able to resist something as rough as plastic waste. According to a study conducted by the University of New Mexico with brain tissues of dead patients, it could not: there were more microplastics in the brain than in the liver and kidneys of the same people, and their concentration increased between the samples taken in 2016 and the samples taken in 2024. Another study in Nature Health this spring was even more alarming, since it discovered micro- and nanoplastics in almost all human brain tissues examined – healthy or ill – in high concentrations close to the tumours.

None of the above proves that plastic causes brain disease. Researchers investigating the tissue have been extremely careful, perhaps even........

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