Would You Like Plastic With That?

In the 1967 film The Graduate, Walter Brook pulls Dustin Hoffman's character aside to give him some career advice. "I just want to say one word to you. Just one word." Hoffman listens attentively as he finishes, "Plastics".

In 1967 plastic was a booming chemical business with endless potential. Now, more than 50 years later, plastic is everywhere. It wraps our food - and just about everything else. It holds our drinks. It fills the stomachs of whales and kills them. It creates vast swirling garbage dumps in our oceans. And now it is, literally, becoming a part of us.

In a meta study by at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers concluded that, on average, Americans consume (as in eat) 70,000 plastic microparticles every year. These arise from our food and water containers, our water supply and even the air we breath.

The authors note that the health effects of all this plastic (the particles are really, really tiny) are not known. Most of the microscopic bits of plastic "probably" pass through us harmlessly because the are "indigestible". But because of their small size, it is possible that "some" may be absorbed. If only 1% of them manage to find their way into your body, that is about 35,000 of them since The Graduate premiered.

There is nothing illegal about plastic nor is there a proven link between plastic and health problems (unless you happen to be a fish). But perhaps it is time to consider consuming less of it. Do you really need plastic bottles of water? Why not get yourself a reusable metal one? Glass for our drinks? It works for beer, and its recyclable. Cardboard food packaging? The health risks are in addition to the very real disposal problems. Plastic lasts a really, really, really long time.

How much are you willing to risk for convenience?