Straws are back in the spotlight, with Donald Trump’s #backtoplastic proclamation, just when the University of New Mexico detects quantities of microplastics in the human brain equal to the content of a tablespoon.
1) Plastics and microplastics
The serial use of plastic materials in single-use applications – from cups, straws and packaging (food and non-food) to pesticides – contributes substantially to global pollution of water, air and soil by microplastics and nanoplastics. Which, as seen (Li Y. et al., 2024), are able to:
– penetrate every tissue of the human organism and reach the nucleus of the cells that contain the genetic material;
– cause serious pathologies, from cardiovascular diseases to tumors, to damage to the nervous and reproductive systems;
– damage the DNA of human beings, thus exposing future generations to those same otherwise non-communicable diseases.
2) Food contact materials
Materials and objects in contact with food made with plastics derived from hydrocarbons – in addition to contributing substantially to pollution from microplastics and nanoplastics – release such particles (and the toxic chemicals they contain, i.e. PFAS, BPA e phthalates) in the same foods and drinks. As has recently been demonstrated, among other things:
– in water contained in plastic bottles (Qian, Gao et al., 2024);
– in tea prepared with plastic bags (Bananas et al., 2024).
Food packaging and plastic tableware therefore constitutes a source of direct exposure – via food – to microplastics and nanoplastics which contribute to #plasticdiet, of human beings. The average consumption of microplastics, according to studies conducted a few years ago in Canada (Cox et al., 2019) and Australia (Senathirajah et al., 2019), is of about 5 g /week.
3) Weak legislation and promises
The European legislator has introduced some restrictions and bans on the use of plastic in single-use objects, starting from 2022, with the Single-Use Plastics Directive 2019/904/EC (SUPs). Which does not consider single-use plastics used in agrochemicals and in any case grants a shameful exemption in favor of the most widespread single-use plastic objects of all, plastic cups.
The US administration – under President Joe Biden, who is responsible for the far worse sources of radioactive pollution and premature mortality in the munitions and cluster bombs sent to Ukraine – had in turn promised, in November 2024, to adopt restrictions on certain single-use plastic items. To be applied starting in 2027, along the lines of the Old Continent’s rules.
4) Straws, #backtoplastic?
The August 28 2024 the giant Kraft-Heinz, through its Capri-Sun diabetogenic beverage industry, has sponsored a petition on Change.org to claim the importance of plastic straws. A ‘lobbying’ operation (disguised as ‘grassroots advocacy’), aimed at obtaining the removal of the ban introduced in the SUPs directive.
The February 7 2025 the US President Donald Trump has also claimed the need to preserve plastic straws since, in his opinion, cardboard ones would melt during use.
Is the production of cardboard in the USA that bad? And is it really necessary to suck liquids with a straw?
The plastic industry thus embarks on a rearguard battle, to claim ‘business as usual’ on the most futile disposable objects. Instead of betting on the innovation of ecological, compostable and reusable materials, with greater added value.
5) Microplastics in the brain, the study
The February 3 2025 , combination, Nature Medicine has published a study from the University of New Mexico (Nihart et al., 2025) where the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) is detected in the human brain in much higher concentrations than in other organs (e.g. liver, kidneys). (2) The size of the particles is also much smaller than previously thought: on the nanometer scale, about two or three times the size of viruses.
Accumulation of MNPs in the brain has also increased by 50 percent in the last eight years alone, comparing analyses of older brain tissue (2016) – donated by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, which is required by law to keep autopsy tissue for seven years – with the most recent (2024). ‘The accumulation rate reflects the growing amount of plastic waste on the planet‘, according to toxicologist Matthew Campen who coordinated the research. (3)
6) Nanoplastics and dementia
Brain tissue of people diagnosed with dementia had up to 10 times more plastic in their brains than anyone else, Professor Campen also highlighted.We started to think that maybe these plastics are obstructing blood flow in the capillaries.’.
‘It’s possible that these nanomaterials interfere with the connections between axons in the brain‘. However, although there is a clear correlation, the study design cannot demonstrate whether the higher levels of plastic in the brain are the cause of the dementia symptoms. Nor whether it is the chemical composition or the physical shape (splinters) of the particles that produced the lesions.
7) Provisional conclusions
The production of plastic from hydrocarbons continues to increase, with an average annual growth in demand of +4% (Zheng et al.La Javie, 2019) and a major impact on public health globally. And even if it were stopped tomorrow, it would be a time bomb, explains Professor Campen. Polymers already released into the environment in fact take decades to decay into microscopic particles, and the concentrations of MNPs (in the environment and human organisms) will continue to grow for years to come.
The worldwide recycling rate of plastics is estimated to be around 9%, 5% in the USA and around 30% in Europe. Absolutely the lowest compared to other materials subject to recycling (e.g. glass, paper, metals). And most plastic waste ends up in landfill (49%), in incineration (19%) and a large part dispersed in the environment (22%. OECD data, 2023). Big food has a leading and inattentive role (Phelan et al., 2022), in the systemic use of packaging made of these materials and the promotion of disposable consumption models.
8) America first?
An advice not requested to Donald Trump, change the name of the State of New Mexico to New America, and introduce a ban on plastic cups and straws. So that the United States is the first to promote attention towards microplastic pollution and the development of alternative materials and consumption models. Bioplastics from hemp, cotton and wool in fabrics. In addition to the introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), which has already shown excellent results – at least for food packaging – in several EU countries.
#backtoearth, #egalite
Dario Dongo
Credit cover: Neil Davies. Trump caricatures. Behance. November 29, 2016
Footnotes
(1) James Paul. ‘Back To Plastic Straws’ Elon Musk Backs Donald Trump’s Paper Straw Ban; Internet Says Go Live In Mars. Mashable. February 9, 2025 https://tinyurl.com/y6845xte
(2) Nihart, AJ, Garcia, M.A., El Hayek, E. et al. (2025) Bioaccumulation of microplastics in deceased human brains. Nature Medicine https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03453-1
(3) Michael Headerle. UNM Researchers Find Alarmingly High Levels of Microplastics in Human Brains – and Concentrations are Growing Over Time. University of New Mexico. February 3, 2025 https://tinyurl.com/43swc3u8
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
