Nanoplastics in the Brain: Humanity’s Ticking Time Bomb

Описание: Nanoplastics in the Brain: Humanity’s Ticking Time Bomb

Autopsies on human brains shows an average of a plastic fork or spoon by weight (7 grams) in the brain. That means the brain is only 99.5% brain and 0.5% plastic.

The form of plastic in the brain is nanoplastics, which are very tiny shards of plastic.

Brains of demented people were two or more forks.

I chat about global plastic production, lack of plastic recycling, and how plastic breaks down in the environment, and how climate change accelerates the breakdown.

I also consider how long it will take for 50% of the population to be demented… not too long…

For a more in-depth discussion on this topic, please have a look at my talk today to the Canadian Club of Rome, Ottawa group. It’s about 45 minutes of me talking and then 45 minutes of Q and A…    • CACOR Live - Paul Beckwith - Nanoplastics ...  

Comparing 2024 brains to 2016 brains (in 8 years), there was a 50% increase on nanoplastics, with 2024 averages being 0.5%. Another 8 years to 2032 with the same increase brings us to 0.75% and then 8 more years, to 2040 brings us to about 1% or dementia level. Thus, we could only be looking at a few decades to get a crazy society?? But global plastic production is expected to double every 10 to 15 years. Plus, the nanoplastics from breakdown of microplastics is lagged in decades, but primary microplastic production is very high and breakdown to nanoplastics is much shorter, clearly…

References

CNN article: Human brain samples contain an entire spoon’s worth of nanoplastics, study says
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/health...

Smithsonian magazine article: The Human Brain May Contain as Much as a Spoon’s Worth of Microplastics, New Research Suggests
The amount of microplastics in the human brain appears to be increasing over time: Concentrations rose by roughly 50 percent between 2016 and 2024, according to a new study
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...

Peer-reviewed Nature article: open source, free
Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159...

Peer reviewed paper in Science Frontiers: open source, free
Plastic pollution under the influence of climate change: implications for the abundance, distribution, and hazards in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/...
Abstract
Of the numerous anthropogenic pressures that are being exerted on ecosystems globally, plastic pollution and climate change are potentially the most pressing. This is particularly true when they co-occur as joint stressors. These are interlinked with respect to their root cause (the overconsumption of finite resources) and their effects in natural and anthropogenic systems and processes. This review focuses on a growing area of research into how climate change can, by transforming plastic pollution from a reversible to a poorly reversible contaminant, exacerbate the abundance, distribution, exposure, and impacts of plastics and associated chemicals in our waters, soils, biota, and atmosphere. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that climate change and plastic pollution can have significant and often interactive ecological effects, particularly among the higher trophic levels within the food web. The rational response to confront these effects is to address the pollution at source by rapidly and meaningfully reducing emissions into the environment. We discuss challenges but also solutions, through future research, policies and public awareness, that must harness the same enthusiasm that made plastic a fundamental cornerstone of the modern world in the first place. The threat that plastics produced, used and discarded today could cause global-scale impacts in the future is compelling motivation to take appropriate action now.

Scientific American article from December, 2025
I bought the print magazine.
The Pivot to Plastic: To keep profits rolling in, oil and gas companies want to turn fossil fuels into a mounting pile of packaging and other products, by Beth Gardiner
https://www.magzter.com/stories/scien...