We're Eating Plastics From Our Own Dirty Laundry (vice.com)

Every time you wash your fleece jacket or other synthetic clothing, microscopic synthetic fibres are released and end up in our food supply and drinking water. From a report: These microfibres are so small -- visible only under a microscope -- that they bypass municipal filtration systems and are consumed by fish and other marine life. A team of women from Waterloo, Ontario is looking to solve that problem. They've designed something that looks a lot like a dryer sheet for your laundry machine. You'd be able to drop this reusable sheet, called PolyGone, into the laundry machine with your dirty clothes. It attracts and traps the microfibres so they can be recycled. They presented their work at the annual AquaHacking conference at the University of Waterloo on Wednesday. "With these fibres entering our food system and ending up on our plates, we are essentially eating polluted laundry," said co-founder Lauren Smith at the conference. The event saw five teams, including hers, compete for tens of thousands of dollars and entry into several local incubators and accelerator centres. Smith has a Masters degree in sustainability management from UW, specializing in water.

Comments

okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

How many stories per week do we need about eating plastic. I SIMPLY DO NOT CARE ANYMORE.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Captain Splendid]

Your digestive system does, though.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[mysidia]

Sounds like they just pass straight through the digestive system to waste, just like other numerous toxins and junk components of things you eat that don't have nutritive value.

Is there evidence that any of these residual plastic bits that get through the water filters are actually harmful?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[bobbied]

Your digestive system does, though.

Serious question.. How? What about small plastic fibers is a problem as they go though my digestive tract?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Scarletdown]

This comes across as yet another scare article with the dual purpose of keeping the masses terrified of the world around them and to hopefully sell this new product that is coming out.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Hadlock]

When I was little I probably accidentally swollowed, and pooped out tens of pennies, dimes, screws, nuts. Unless it's going to leech a chemical that mimics hormones, or heavy metals typically it just goes right through you, along with all the other undigestible parts of your food, like bone fragments, egg shell fragments, bugs, dirt, rocks... you do realize the human digestive system was designed to eat raw meat in an open field, right?
 
Yeah our digestive systems these days are a bit more sensitive because they almost exclusively eat processed, cooked foods, but your body is well designed to handle things that aren't edible.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

No to the design. But I realize it evolved that way, yeah.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[MightyMartian]

It's not our fault you're retarded.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[MightyMartian]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Kohath]

You don't understand the environmentalist religion at all.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[PPH]

Unless it's going to leech a chemical that mimics hormones,

I think that's the major concern here. Plasticizers mimicking estrogen, etc. Either we eat them directly and suffer the consequences. Or fish eat them and they interfere with their growth/reproduction cycles and we get fewer fish. Or gay fish.

The answer isn't so much to get plastics out of the environment as it is to get these specific components out of the plastics. You will probably absorb far more weird chemicals from your food packaging then from particles that you consume from the environment.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[gnick]

...typically it just goes right through you, along with all the other undigestible parts of your food, like bone fragments, egg shell fragments, bugs, dirt, rocks...

What's wrong with eating bugs?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[bobbied]

That article is about a softening agent which is banned in consumer products in the USA, so not a concern in my backyard.. Anything else?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Tablizer]

How many stories per week do we need about eating plastic. I SIMPLY DO NOT CARE ANYMORE.

I used to care, but not after my brain was damaged from plastic.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[bluefoxlucid]

Small particles can lodge in your intestinal vaginations and such, whereas large things will pass through. A lot of weird stuff happens when things change size and shape. For example: L-Methamphetamine causes vasoconstriction and acts as a nasal decongestant; D-Methamphatemaine tilts a Methyl group toward the other side of the molecule, and so ends up binding to NET and DAT, entering the DAT and forcing dopamine out of the vacuole and into your brain, revving up your serotonin system, and generally screwing your brain all up. The 2,4-methyldioxy version (bind essentially H2CO2 to the phenyl ring) activates kappa-opioid receptors, makes you hallucinate, and excites your serotonin system to toxicity.

These aren't chemical reactions; these chemicals fit into the receptors by their shape, and stop affecting you when an enzyme alters their chemical structure to make them no longer fit. They don't change chemical structure to apply their effects, but rather they physically interact with neurons.

Come up from molecular-scale stuff and you get titanium oxide. Inhale a pea-size chunk and cough it out, no big deal (assuming you can cough the little rock out of your lung). Grind it up into a powder, you can rub it across your skin--no big deal. Grind it down to a nanometer-wide particle and it enters the cells, where it absorbs ultra-violet radiation and re-radiates the energy inside the cell, causing DNA damage.

Consider swallowing a penny versus a stranded copper wire ... or a pin.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

Quantities.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[drago177]

Serious question.. How? What about small plastic fibers is a problem as they go though my digestive tract?

http://system.suny.edu/system-...
Microplastics affect different aspects of the environment. They can affect fish, birds and other wildlife who may ingest the plastics, causing internal blockage, dehydration and death in these species.

Microplastics can also transport other pollutants. They absorb pollutants already in the water, such as DDT, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). When ingested by wildlife or humans (either directly or indirectly), these plastics contain high concentrations of these dangerous toxins which can become even more concentrated and dangerous as they bioaccumulate in the food chain.

http://digitalcommons.salve.ed...
Some consequences of micro plastic ingestion that have been found in fish include reduced reproductive ability,
decreased feeding ability, abnormal behavior and death.25

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey now that you are afraid of plastic nano fibers let me sell you an all 100% organic natural hemlock based colon cleansing detox treatment. It's all natural, nature made like cobra venom -- how can it possibly cause harm?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't understand that environmentalism is not a religion, since it's based on - you know - science?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

Is there evidence that any of these residual plastic bits that get through the water filters are actually harmful?

Obesity in children has tripled over the last 35 years, and we have NO IDEA what is causing this. Fingers have been pointed at HFCS, but there is no known causative correlation, and countries with low fructose consumption have seen the same climb in obesity. People have also blamed "inactivity", but that is just circular logic. Why have people become less active? Things like "larger portion sizes" may explain a 5-10% rise, but not 200%.

So does plastics, pseudo-estrogens, and other gunk in our diet have something to do with it? Maybe, or maybe not, but scientists have been wildly wrong before about what constitutes a healthy diet, and we are missing something that is having a really big effect on people's lives.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Cyberax]

Plastics are not particularly healthy for multiple reasons. For example, they are good at adsorbing heavy metals and other contaminants and slowly releasing them. Or they can get accumulate inside cells, causing mutations (more cancer risk).

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Ann O'Nymous-Coward]

Well, if you want to eat bug shit, more power to you, but that gets a big NOPE from me.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[SillyStuff]

Just remember it wasn't long ago that San Francisco passed a law that banned microbeads. I seem to recall it was a few kilos of microbeads that were supposed to reach the bay each day. MEANWHILE, tons of microfibers have been washing into her bay daily from everyone's Patagonia jackets and yoga pants.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ITRambo]

Eating much more food than a body needs causes obesity. There is no other cause.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[GLMDesigns]

Is it?

Most beliefs can have nuggets of truth. Doesn't mean it's not a religion.

Gaia anyone?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[GLMDesigns]

Maybe because we're less active than we used to be? My father, in his 80s still used to walk 5-6 miles a day. When he got alzheimer's disease nurses aids kept quitting because he wanted to go for a stroll after breakfast and lunch everyday. These strolls were slow 1.5 hour walks.

How many kids do you know barely get off the couch?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

Obesity in children has tripled over the last 35 years, and we have NO IDEA what is causing this.

Inactivity. That simple.

People have also blamed "inactivity", but that is just circular logic. Why have people become less active?

Not because they're pudgy. Maybe if they're morbidly obese.

The reasons why kids are being inactive today versus 30 years ago are the interactive video systems, and much more importantly, society's fear of kidnappers. Kids 30 years ago used to wander the neighborhoods or woods with friends. Occasionally one might get hurt, and it might make the local news, but once national news started the sensationalism cycle, parents freaked out and made sure their kids were inside doing safe things like video games. 20 years ago kids were still walking to each others' houses to play video games with each other. 15 years ago, kids stopped leaving their houses and were playing together over the 'net. Pokemon Go briefly changed some of this. Now Pokemon Go is all adults getting their nostalgia fix.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

And dosage is totally irrelevant here? How many neuron receptors do you have. What is the mechanism and bioaccumulation rate? What is the binding energy involved?

Also your titanium dioxide example made no sense. I know the EU is paranoid about titanium.dioxide being a carcinogen but there is no proof the effect you describe is the cause. First if it can enter a cell, it doesn't necessary mean it will latch on somewhere and stay forever. Second if it absorbs and reradiates, unless two photon absorption effects are involved (titanium dioxide? they aren't), the energy is lower than UV. In fact by absorbing the UV it is protecting the cell from DNA damage. This is the same strategy uses by melanin to prevent cancer.

My point is that unless you know the answers to the questions I posed OR you have strong and convincing correlation statistics then it makes no sense to get paranoid about something because then you would be paranoid about everything.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Gr8Apes]

Obesity in children has tripled over the last 35 years, and we have NO IDEA what is causing this.

Inactivity. That simple.

Inactivity and massive amounts of carbohydrates. That simple.

The reasons why kids are being inactive today versus 30 years ago are the interactive video systems, and much more importantly, society's fear of kidnappers. Kids 30 years ago used to wander the neighborhoods or woods with friends...but once national news started the sensationalism cycle, parents freaked out and made sure their kids were inside doing safe things like video games

30 years ago, kids were in greater danger being in the house than outside it.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[hackwrench]

And this is bad, because? The universe is a giant machine. Once upon a time, the iron in blood was a heavy metal. These metals encode memories. Sometimes things get out of hand and need to be realigned.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[hackwrench]

Tim Minchin: The day they find out yoga mats are carcinogenic will be the happiest day of my life.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

Eating much more food than a body needs causes obesity.

Of course eating too much causes obesity, but dismissing a serious problem with an vacuous inanity isn't constructive.

What causes people to eat too much? More importantly, what has caused the problem to TRIPLE? Why did the problem become much much worse over the last 35 years?

Every proposed cause is either something that already existed 35 years ago (soda, sedentary lifestyle), or isn't actually correlated with obesity (fructose).

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[sexconker]

Why did the problem become much much worse over the last 35 years?

Computers, video games, cable TV, internet, etc.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

Inactivity and massive amounts of carbohydrates.

Consumption of carbohydrates as a proportion of total calories has not increased over the last 35 years.

That simple.

Simple, yet wrong.

The reasons why kids are being inactive today versus 30 years ago are the interactive video systems

If video games really were the root cause of hundreds of millions of cases of obesity, there would be plenty of evidence. Can you cite any? Boys play more video games than girls, yet girls have higher obesity rates.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

Computers, video games, cable TV, internet, etc.

Yet obesity has gone up most among poor people who are least likely to be able to afford these things. Obesity has gone up the most among African-American females, the demographic least likely to own a computer or play video games. Obesity has gone up as much in Mexico as it has in America, yet all of these things you listed are less common there.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

Maybe because we're less active than we used to be?

So what has caused hundreds of millions of people to become much less active? Cars ownership did not significantly change. There were no profound shifts to less labor intensive jobs. How do you explain such a massive shift in metabolism and behavior, other than just pointing out that it happened?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

Urbanization?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Gr8Apes]

Inactivity and massive amounts of carbohydrates.

Consumption of carbohydrates as a proportion of total calories has not increased over the last 35 years.

I'd hugely disagree, even without an appropriate referenced study. Just look to the cost and common size of that huge source of carbs, the coke, cola, soda, pop, etc. And note that refills became free somewhere in the late 80s or 90s. Finally, note that in the 80s, IIRC, is when the "War on Fat" in the diet started. Turns out eating fat doesn't necessarily make you fat, but eating carbs, especially those provided by sugars, not only become fat easier, but also cause a whole host of other issues including obesity and liver disease. A simple google search on this topic for reports published in 2017 will reveal that carb heavy diets are terrible.

That simple.

Simple, yet wrong.

You can guess, citation? Or even some simple counter-arguments?

The reasons why kids are being inactive today versus 30 years ago are the interactive video systems

FTFY: I responded to that quote from the GP

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[hey!]

You are fed up, I take it.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[dougdonovan]

no wonder the steak and eggs taste so good.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

Urbanization?

Urbanization hasn't changed near enough in the last 35 years to account for a TRIPLING of obesity rates, even if it was correlated with obesity (it isn't).

Rural people are most likely to be obese.
Urban people are least likely to be obese.
Suburban people are in the middle.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Bartles]

If microplastics absorb pollutants from the environment, I bet they also absorb pollutants from fish.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Zeromous]

Its cheap calories in the form of junk food. Good food has gotten so expensive more and more people are sustaining themselves on huge amounts of junk calories as discount prices. We are advertised to relentlessly by brands whose ingredients while stable and nontoxic contain almost no useful nutrition or substantially less than the un processed real mccoy.

Do we see vegans who no doubt drink this water suffering from obesity?

Im not a vegan but i eat ok and enjoy a little junk food and excercise but the answer is obvious if you just glance at the data all around you

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Kohath]

I'd say it's 2 things:

1. Abundant tasty foods.
2. Parents should be helping their kids. In the past, bad parents had hungry kids. Now almost no one ever goes hungry and when bad parents neglect their kids' health and they're too fat instead of too thin.

Does anyone actually take the time to help a kid be less fat? I was a fat kid. Exactly zero people ever genuinely tried to help me with that.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[losfromla]

Some people are hung up on glyphosates. I myself am of the opinion that it is the swapping in our collective diet of the proportions of calories from fat and carbohydrates. We used to eat a much more high fat diet before the government got involved in the 70's and hypnotized us all into eating a high carb diet. Unfortunately, this is also muddled with the high and pervasive use of glyphosates in both grains eaten by humans and those used in feedstock. So either way those who can't afford to protect themselves eat super-high amounts of carbohydrates and glyphosates. There are also the GMO's, no long-term studies have ever been performed on their impacts on the human body, in fact no studies of any consequence at all were performed. So, you might think it's unscientific to hate on the GMOs but I think it's unscientific to just take a corporation's word and believe that they are safe. These corporations have a strong vested interest in getting their products approved and couldn't give two shits about the health of the consumers of their "product".

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[losfromla]

Because the fittest, best looking women will be at higher risk of cancer? You really don't think very much, do you?

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[mysidia]

Why did the problem become much much worse over the last 35 years?

Dietary changes. The emergence of Fast Food lifestyle.... McDonalds' arrived at New York in 1972;
not a lot longer than 35 years ago. Then over the following decades we got Internet, Console games, then Mobile games.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[mysidia]

has gone up most among poor people who are least likely to be able to afford these things.

You claim "least likely to be able to afford those things", but in fact, in many cases poor people may have plenty of access to these things and might be prioritizing purchasing these things over massively more expensive toys such as a car for basic transportation ---- Can't afford a $5000 car and $2000 a year in insurance, but a $200 game console for the kids is nothing; ability to afford does not always equate to access and usage. Computers and video games if anything have gotten more and more affordable over the past 35 years; to the point now where anyone with a mobile phone can play them, and Everyone has to have a smart phone ----- plenty of people with their iPhone 7s and 6s... seen checking out at the grocery store with their EBT card.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

Its cheap calories in the form of junk food.

Junk food is not a new phenomena. There was plenty of it 35 years ago.

Good food has gotten so expensive

Food has gone down in price over the last 35 years, and basic staples are less expensive than junk food. Oatmeal is way cheaper than potato chips. Carrots are cheaper than pretzels. Tap water is more affordable than soda.

There are a lot of dumb explanations for the obesity epidemic, but the argument that people "had to get fat" out of economic necessity is the most ridiculous.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

Dietary changes.

Sure, and hot weather is caused by an increase in temperatures.

OF COURSE diets changed. But why did they change? A small bump of 5% or 10% might be explained away as "advertising for junk food" or "more video games". But we saw a 200% increase, a TRIPLING of obesity. That is a profound and extreme change in food consumption and metabolism. Why? If it was really something simplistic like "video games", then there would be huge amounts of data to confirm that. So far no one has even been able to show a correlation between video game use and obesity, and certainly not any causation.

Here is a summary article about video games and obesity, including both observation studies and controlled experiments. They found NO evidence to support the hypothesis that video games, or watching TV, cause obesity.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[ShanghaiBill]

1. Abundant tasty foods.

Food was just as abundant and tasty 35 years ago.

In the past, bad parents had hungry kids. Now almost no one ever goes hungry

Hunger in America was not more common 35 years ago.

Does anyone actually take the time to help a kid be less fat?

Do you really think that childhood obesity tripled because of a vast decline in helpful people?

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

Poor people can afford most of those.

Of computers and consoles are dirt cheap and a $50 game gives months of play time.

Price up a core2 system and a 1050ti. Shitloads of games run fine on that at 720p.

You can also waste hours on Facebook and watch torrents.

Poor people can't afford it? Lol. We're long past the 80s.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[jezwel]

OF COURSE diets changed. But why did they change? A small bump of 5% or 10% might be explained away as "advertising for junk food" or "more video games". But we saw a 200% increase, a TRIPLING of obesity. That is a profound and extreme change in food consumption and metabolism. Why?

There are probably many correlations. The release of the food pyramid with carbs to be the most consumed item. Colour TV becomes widespread & advertising of junk food increases. Could be a rapid increases in wages vs cost of food. Maybe some new really cheap way of harvesting vegetable oil.
Or maybe it's the change to add HFCS in so much of our food? From the HFCS wiki article:

In 1965–1970 Yoshiyuki Takasaki, at the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) developed a heat-stable xylose isomerase enzyme from yeast. In 1967, the Clinton Corn Processing Company obtained an exclusive license to a manufacture glucose isomerase derived from Streptomyces bacteria and began shipping an early version of HFCS in February 1967.[3]:140 In 1983, the FDA approved HFCS as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), and that decision was reaffirmed in 1996[30] Prior to the development of the worldwide sugar industry, dietary fructose was limited to only a few items. Milk, meats, and most vegetables, the staples of many early diets, have no fructose, and only 5–10% fructose by weight is found in fruits such as grapes, apples, and blueberries. Most traditional dried fruits, however, contain about 50% fructose. From 1970 to 2000, there was a 25% increase in "added sugars" in the U.S

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Kohath]

Food was just as abundant and tasty 35 years ago.

False. You seriously want to say that food is the one area where there's been zero progress in the last 35 years?

Hunger in America was not more common 35 years ago.

I don't know what you think "more common" means. Food costs less and high calorie, ready to eat foods are clearly more available to more people at lower cost (measured in time spent working to earn the money to buy them) than 35 years ago.

Do you really think that childhood obesity tripled because of a vast decline in helpful people?

It's a factor. There are other factors. And it's not a decline in "helpful people", it's a specific unwillingness/failure to help a kid slim down. There's help for a kid to learn math or science or history. There's help for an injured kid or any number of other kids with other problems. Just not for the fat kid.

There are lots of other factors, but a kid is ultimately just a kid. A kid's health is the parents' responsibility, period. A fat kid's parents have fallen down on the job. If more kids are fat, more parents are failing their kids. No two ways about it.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[tsa]

I don't think you mean glyphosates: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[tsa]

Yes, I remember the times when iron was still a heavy metal. "Don't eat iron," they told us. But I did once, and that is why I still know this.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[losfromla]

I definitely did mean glyphosates. Look it up, people are concerned and their concerns seem valid.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[hackwrench]

But they're also frigid and I like women that get their exercise in other ways.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[thegarbz]

Its cheap calories in the form of junk food. Good food has gotten so expensive

Spoken like someone who doesn't cook good food. I only eat junkfood when I really need to, it's far more expensive than making something with nice fresh ingredients from the store.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually there's plenty of scientific evidence that shows many commonly used Plastics today are significantly changing both men's and women's hormone levels, and not in a good way. In men, it's affecting their sperm in negative ways and reducing their sexual drive and feminizing them overall. So for you guys wanting a sex change, just eat more Plastics, you'll eventually get there. As for me, I'll continue to use a minimum of triple filtration for all my water sources to insure I'm ingesting as little plastic residue as physically possible. But then, as I think about that response, I realize that today, much of our water is carried through plastic plumbing pipes, Plastic lined pipes and plastic bottles. Where will it end ?

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

You are 1000% correct ! And yes it IS the commercial use of " Roundup " aka generic name, " Glyphosate ". I believe it was the DOW Corporation who originally invented it and claimed that it " dissipates " or " organically breaks down into harmless nothingness " ... but they are the same corporation that brought us " Agent Orange " which killed off thousands of Vietnam Veteran's and Vietnamese people, produced thousands of deformed babies of Vietnam Veteran's and the Vietnamese people, as well as poisoning the land and waters of Vietnam and continues killing people to this day. Corporations don't give a rats ass, as long as they are making money.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

You keep telling yourself that ..... but just because it's banned in the USA, doesn't mean your immune to what's being used in other countries. We live on one giant planet and everything is connected. Just because you live on one side, doesn't mean that poisons being used on the other side won't eventually reach you. That's just obtuse thinking to believe your not .. or won't eventually be affected by those actions.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

And what may I ask are the pollutants that fish produce ??? You either failed biology or your science classes, or you've never been to school. Can you really be that obtuse ?????

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[dwillden]

Okay his answer was too brief. Then how about this cause: Sedentary lifestyle. 30 years ago when I was a teen, video games were rudimentary and kids spent a lot more time outside. We rode bikes around the neighborhood, we built forts, we roamed and played. And we burned off the soda's and other high sugar foods with active play.

Nowdays it's hard to get the kids off the TV, even if you kick em out they don't go roaming and playing like they used to because all the other kids are at home playing games or watching TV.

Our sedentary lifestyle is to blame. And the difference is that it is far more pervasive than it used to be.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[dwillden]

You have to prepare oatmeal. Pretzels are a more favored snack (we like salty foods). Carrots aren't as snackable, they are wet and often get slimy/

Sedentary lifestyle is still the answer. Not just gaming but Cable and now streaming TV and an abundant supply of snack foods reduces the need or desire to leave the couch.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

In part, yes, it's due to an abundance of cheap calories available in the form of junk food. There's another massive factor too, people's inability or unwillingness to self educate about healthy cheap alternatives, and a general tendency towards more sedentary lifestyles. Most likely everyday work related stress also contributes greatly in the form of comfort eating, and lack of time to prepare proper meals even if one has the required knowledge.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[GLMDesigns]

Urbanization PLUS changes in culture. When I was a kid being sent to my room was punishment. Now I have to force my kids to go outside and when they do they're sitting around using their portable computers (sorry phones). I have to force them to do anything outside of dance class.

I walk 30 blocks to go to a store and people think I'm crazy. Why didn't I take the train (live in NYC). In the suburbs people drive when their only going a half mile. WTF?

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[losfromla]

Women on your computer screen aren't real. Get over your porn fantasies. A real woman ain't going to go down on you the first time you meet because, you know, you delivered pizza to her house and her husband was on a two day business trip.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

What causes people to eat too much? More importantly, what has caused the problem to TRIPLE? Why did the problem become much much worse over the last 35 years?

You can over eat fats without a problem. Excess fat is just excreted out in your feces. You can't over eat sugar. Excess sugar is converted to fat stores in your body.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[PoopJuggler]

And colon cancer is on the rise among young adults. It's possible these two things are linked.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[tsa]

Ah, sorry, I misread your post.

I saw a program on TV once where a Danish farmer who had fed half of his pigs from a field that he used to treat with Glyphosate and the other half from a field that he didn't use Glyphosate on. The ones with the Glyphosate were not as healthy and had far more piglets that were born dead than the other half.

I was quite astonished a few days ago to hear that the EU had decided that Glyphosate was safe. But now I read that part of the document in which they came to that conclusion was copied verbatim from Monsanto's document in which they tried to show it is safe.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

Fructose correlates with stimulating the appetite so I don't know why it wouldn't correlate with obesity. Multiple other food additives also stimulate appetite so hfcs may be lost in the noise.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[megamind]

News just in they are offering this technology for FREE! That's right, 100% free to order from the company. It is for the good of the planet after all.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Anonymous Coward]

It is because people were following bad nutrition advice put forth by the government. Fats were unfairly vilified and fats taste good so in order to make the bland food tasty sugar was added to everything. People eat far too much sugar.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[apoc.famine]

It's truly amazing what a couple of good pans, some fresh ingredients, and a little know-how and technique can get you for very little money. My wife and I go out to eat when we're feeling lazy, and to satisfy a craving or two of hers that we can't easily make at home. We don't go out for cheaper food, and rarely go out for better food. Learning to cook makes going out to eat hard, because it stings a bit to pay a lot of money for something you could have done better. It doesn't matter how good a chef is, when the kitchen gets slammed, it gets slammed. Hard to do a great job on 20 dishes all at once.

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[thegarbz]

I sort of disagree with the last part of your statement. A chef rarely does 20 dishes by himself in a good restaurant and the synergies of common orders makes things quite easy. I find it no more difficult cooking steaks for 20 than I do cooking steaks for myself, even with different requests for how well done they are.

But back on point of cost, I see often someone complain that they tried cooking at home once and it cost them a fortune. Key is once, and what they are missing is the left over raw ingredients. If I go out right now and buy all the ingredients for a chicken caesar salad I would wonder why I didn't just go to a restaurant. But I would need to ignore the fact that I likely have enough for a normal salad for the following 2 days, not to mention a complete breakfast of bacon, eggs, herbs spices and cheese to make a wicked omelette for the entire weekend, some olive oil which will likely be used in every other meal for the following 2 months, etc etc.

I wonder if the GP tried cooking fresh ... once.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[megamind]

I saw this documentary called Pyramids of Waste (free on Youtube), and it talked about how there use to be an indestructible panty-hose. They soon realized that people would stop buying after a few pairs because they lasted so long, and the company couldn't sustain. So they made them weaker so they tear. It's amazing that finally after 50 years we are seeing the consequences of these selfish actions. Washers, dryers, cloths, shirts, pants, cotton-wear are all meant to be worn down to a destructive state, THEN REPLACED FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! Since it is biblical that you never should wear polyester, I don't see anything changing any time soon.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[mysidia]

OF COURSE diets changed. But why did they change?

Culture. New developments. Social trends and fads. EXISTENCE OF ENABLING CONDITIONS such as creation or proliferation of products is enough for humans to change. It's kind of silly that you are incredulous about there being major changes, or that there has to be some grand conspiracy like "something hidden in the water", because humans are LIVING beings, and their
behavior can be affected massively by things as simple as Advertising, or what other people say, but ultimately it comes down to
disorderly chaos of millions of peoples' personal choices, and whatever becomes popular......
The "latest fashion trends", "what's cool", or what direction they've seen the herd randomly move in.

ALL Infinitely more plausible than "some bits of plastic escaped from our clothing, got into our water supply, and implanted our brains to reprogram people to seek out as many carbs as possible."

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[PlaynBass]

You have named a number of possible causes. Perhaps the truth is that they all contribute to the observed effects.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[LunaticTippy]

Your big NOPE is pathetic. You still eat bugs, you just don't know about it. The FDA allows pretty large amounts of insect parts and feces in food. It's completely harmless, probably even good for us. I've seen estimates of 2 pounds of insects per person every year. Over the course of your life you'll probably eat close to your own weight in bugs!

Re: okay we get it, we eat plastic

[losfromla]

Cool. Sometimes I ramble, my post may not have been very clear. I'm definitely disappointed that the EU ruled that glyphosates were safe. I'm guessing lots of bribes were distributed to get the EU to come to that conclusion. I also was hoping they would hold the line on food safety so there would be an escape hatch for us 'muricans. I'm frankly quite surprised that France went along with this travesty, my view was that they tend to care about food quality.

Re:okay we get it, we eat plastic

[Ann O'Nymous-Coward]

What I don't know about won't squick me.

So... is there a problem?

[michiganbob]

Are these microscopic fibers detrimental? The article doesn't mention any health risks, just that they are ending up in the water supply. I would like to know what it is we're panicking about.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's making your dick shrink.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

Obvious corporate shill is obvious. This is the greatest health menace since dihydrogen monoxide!

Re:So... is there a problem?

[bobbied]

Exactly... What is the health issue here?

I'm not saying there isn't one, I'm just interested in why this is a problem. I've seen at least two news stories about this now and neither of them have any information about what the alarm is really about.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are these microscopic fibers detrimental? The article doesn't mention any health risks, just that they are ending up in the water supply. I would like to know what it is we're panicking about.

And the lawyer has entered the room, in case anyone was wondering how we've gotten to the point of eating plastic...

Re:So... is there a problem?

[mysidia]

My suspicion is they're benign and that this is a well-known phenomena, or rare, but it upsets people concerned about the idea of "un-natural" or "synthetic" things making their way in their food source.

Otherwise: Wouldn't this discovery have been its own article and study LONG before someone was working on developing a product?

Maybe the findings about microfibers are specifically being printed to create demand for a product.

Also; it's not a very practical product..... sure you may FILTER your own laundry, with a dryer sheet, but what about the tens or hundreds of other people living in your city who still use their washing machines, and still drain washwater into the sewers that will still be consumed by the fishes?

You're not going to be able to force everyone to buy dryer sheets to mitigate this sort of problem.
So if it infact is one, then the Textile industry is in for an upset, or perhaps the municipalities will need new tech to filter Potable water and destroy plastic fibres during sewage treatment..

Re: So... is there a problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hooray! Free transgender surgery!

Re:So... is there a problem?

[bluefoxlucid]

Assuming this is important and the product works, then they can have a post-filtering stage at the sewage treatment plant where the clean water discharge first goes through a giant, turbulant vat stirring up many sheets of this stuff. That would be an extremely-fine-particle filter.

When a centralized design doesn't work, distribute. When a distributed design doesn't work, centralize. When both are practical and functional, take a layered approach.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Obfuscant]

Assuming this is important and the product works, then they can have a post-filtering stage at the sewage treatment plant where the clean water discharge first goes through a giant, turbulant vat stirring up many sheets of this stuff.

These aren't washer sheets, they're dryer sheets. Imagine the local water processing plant with a huge dryer where they have hundreds of these sheets in a big hot rotating tub and they spray water into it and it "dries". Hey, you don't need the sheets at all if you are going to distill all your outgoing waste water!

When a centralized design doesn't work, distribute.

Uhhh, the problem with this solution is that polyester clothing is almost dry when it comes out of the spin cycle of the washer, and it is a waste of time to run it through a dryer in the first place. (A, you risk melting your clothing if the dryer gets too hot.) You hang it up and it dries in about ten minutes. Ok, overnight.

The reason you should never machine dry your polyester stuff is that drying fuses any remnant stains or odors onto the cloth. I've got some tees that I had professionally washed and I had to wash them three times after that to get the odor out of them.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[drago177]

My suspicion is they're benign and that this is a well-known phenomena, or rare, but it upsets people concerned about the idea of "un-natural" or "synthetic" things making their way in their food source.

Actually it seems this has been an area of study for a few years now:

http://system.suny.edu/system-...
Microplastics affect different aspects of the environment. They can affect fish, birds and other wildlife who may ingest the plastics, causing internal blockage, dehydration and death in these species.

Microplastics can also transport other pollutants. They absorb pollutants already in the water, such as DDT, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). When ingested by wildlife or humans (either directly or indirectly), these plastics contain high concentrations of these dangerous toxins which can become even more concentrated and dangerous as they bioaccumulate in the food chain.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...
Public health impact of plastics: An overview
2011 Sep-Dec

I guess microplastic fibers are different than microplastic beads, and maybe definitive, specific studies haven't been published yet. But, logic would say they probably have the same ill effects. I do agree I'd wait for the studies before passing laws. But nothing wrong with have a product ready to solve the problem.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

If the odor is fused to the cloth you wouldn't be able to smell it, dumbass.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Bartles]

Yes they are. They're both plastic. Plastic is not natural. Plastic is made by humans. Plastic is bad.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

No there isn't. It's just another scaremongering product with as much value as "HD sunglasses".

Re:So... is there a problem?

[bluefoxlucid]

These aren't washer sheets, they're dryer sheets.

... I mean. I just have to now.

The issue is polyester fibers getting into the water because they pass through the filters at sewage treatment plants. They don't get into the sewage system from your dryer; they get into it from your washing machine. How in the hell would the point-of-use for these things, thus, be the dryer?

It says they're dryer-sheet-like, not that they go in the dryer.

The rest of your ramble is also pointless and disconnected.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Obfuscant]

My Bad. The summary called them a dryer sheet, and then said they went in the laundry machine. Ok, the local water treatment facility having a big washing machine for the water isn't as stupid as having a big dryer. But it would be a lot smarter to have a fixed filtering system, which would then be clogged up by all the other particulate matter that is still in the water. Face it, the water in your washing machine is distilled compared to what a water treatment plant gets to handle.

So, overall, it is still a stupid idea.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[bluefoxlucid]

The problem is the stuff coming out of the sewage treatment plant apparently still has these tiny fibers coming out of it. There's been a lot of proposal about throwing these sheets in and removing them at the source (decentralized); it makes more sense to force the clean-water discharge through an additional filtration stage.

We have filters for laundry water discharge (lint traps), but they've proposed this thing instead. I assume this means something about turbulence increases the likelihood of capturing these particles, rather than forcing them through what amounts to a screening media. Maybe it takes too damned much pressure for water to go through the media. Whatever the reason, they've proposed this goes in the tumble-wash cycle, so the analogous post-process filtration would be to have a lot of these rolling over each other in a turbulent vat that the water passes through on its way out of the facility as a final stage.

Re:So... is there a problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

no, but you can force manufacturers to include it as a filter in the washer

So

[Anonymous Coward]

I am sure the fish eat all sorts of things we find gross, like poop and garbage.

Is there any real risk to people eating a fish that has eaten a fish that has eaten a sea thing that at the invisible plastic?

Re:So

[Tablizer]

I am sure the fish eat all sorts of things we find gross, like poop and garbage.

That's why you should cook fish before eating it. But cooking plastic (in fish) just makes the problem worse.

And why didn't anybody discover this problem before? Synthetic fabrics have been widespread since at least the 1960's.

What alarmist bs

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? These microfibers end up in musculature of the fish that we eat?

Or do the fibers just end up getting pooped out of their digestive track?
Maybe she can make a filter to recycle the fish poop before bottom feeders eat the fish poop which are then eaten by other fish OMG!

Have we really gotten this stupid as a society?

Nice but...

[skam240]

That sheet is great and all but how do we get it to be used on a large scale? We have a hard enough time getting people to believe that significantly altering our planet's atmosphere is a bad thing, how are we going to get people on board with this?

Re:Nice but...

[Anonymous Coward]

We'll pass a regulation stating that people must use this sheet every time they ... what? Wait, what's that? No more regulations? DAMN YOU MR TRUMP!!!!

Re:Nice but...

[Gilgaron]

Yeah maybe look to use this methodology in the water treatment plant instead...

Re:Nice but...

[Anonymous Coward]

easy. you integrate it into the laundry machine.

Re:Nice but...

[Tablizer]

Are you saying the idea is full of sheet?

Re:Nice but...

[gnick]

...how are we going to get people on board with this?

We aren't.

Re:Nice but...

[freeze128]

The first step is to provide undeniable proof (which the deniers will deny).

Re:Nice but...

[Obfuscant]

We aren't.

Because it is a waste of electricity to machine dry polyester or fleece, so the most environmentally conscientious people will not be using a dryer anyway. The only people who would use such a thing are those weak minded people who are scared because someone told them they are "eating their dirty laundry".

Re:Nice but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't seem so undeniable now, does it? - the deniers.

Re: Nice but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice try .. but it isn't Mr. Trump ... it's your basic idiot dumb-ass politician who hasn't a lick of Intelligence.

Re:Nice but...

[skam240]

Or maybe some one out there thinks eating plastic isn't desirable but still enjoys the conveniences of modern technology?

How absurd!

Fiber!

[sartwell]

Mmm more fiber than a bran muffin.

Re:Fiber!

[bobbied]

You must be young.... Those bran muffins look pretty tempting at my age...

Show me the evidence

[Anonymous Coward]

Show me the evidence that consuming these "microscopic bits of plastic and fiber" is harmful in any way.

Yes it is a problem, it's sad people are asking

[Anonymous Coward]

Plastic is not inert, It really should not be used for food packaging. It leeches chemicals into your food - the worst of which is plasticizers which make plastic soft (vs. the old brittle plastics of the 60's) plasticizers mimic hormones (which regulate most of your autonomous functions) this can screw up many of the normal functions in your body, in addition to causing cancer.

http://www.salon.com/2005/05/27/plastics_and_boys/

Re:Yes it is a problem, it's sad people are asking

[Anonymous Coward]

And before someone says "ok I see the evidence for hormone disruption, but not cancer", here you go:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/10/phthalates-plastics-chemicals-research-analysis

There is a lovely tool for dispeling self or industry-imposed ignorance - it's called research. Don't expect someone like me to be around to deliver it on a silver platter all the time. . .

Re:Yes it is a problem, it's sad people are asking

[tomhath]

Yes, but when researching you need to look at real science rather than scare tactics from someone with an agenda.

Re:Yes it is a problem, it's sad people are asking

[Anonymous Coward]

Leeches take stuff out like blood normally or torrent's they don't put them in. Moron.

Re:Yes it is a problem, it's sad people are asking

[Bartles]

I knew if I scrolled I'd see someone mention the evils of "chemicals leeching(sic) into our food".

Re:Yes it is a problem, it's sad people are asking

[GrumpySteen]

Because Real Science(tm) only comes from genuine industry lobbying groups who have a vested interest in opposing regulations that might impact corporate profits!

Thanks to our efforts in this area, you can rest assured that you will never need to talk to those creepy science nerds again because our friendly PR staff is ready to answer all your questions in the most profitable way possible!

Got paste?

[t0ejam]

My brother ate paste as a kid. Don't know the validity of that, but there is something you now know.

Kick 'em when they're up...

[Zephyn]

To think that Don Henley was right all this time...

"You don't really need to find out what's going on.
You don't really want to know just how far it's gone.
Just leave well enough alone. Eat your dirty laundry"

isn't this basically like eating fiber?

[v1]

Don't the two both just pass through your digestive tract and on out? I don't see the big deal - if it just passed through and isn't getting absorbed or cause problems, why worry about it? Or is there some confirmed research that shows it's a problem somehow?

mod 0p

[Anonymous Coward]

Perspective, the around are in nned your replies rather that should be bought the farm... Right now. I tried, centralized models

just don't call it morgellons

[Anonymous Coward]

polymer polymore polyman,, organs growing on our outsides,, moms, kids sick all the time (upper respiratory & skin tissue issues etc.... phewww cease fire stand down.. scratch along.. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wmd+morgellons+weather+fibers

Re:just don't call it morgellons

[Thud457]

so the fur-bearing trout are now sporting polyfleece now. modern times...

Laundry Machine?

[Anonymous Coward]

The machine that does the washing, or the machine that does the drying?

Re:Laundry Machine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

The circle of life.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fish ingest the microfibers.
You eat the fish.
The microfibers collect in your testicles and bind with sperm.
You ejaculate this into your plastic RealDoll.
You recycle your RealDoll and it is used to make microfiber cloth.

The circle of life is complete.

Synthetic Sheep?

[TechyImmigrant]

> your fleece jacket or other synthetic clothing,

Fleece's come from sheep.

Re:Synthetic Sheep?

[karlandtanya]

> your fleece jacket or other synthetic clothing,

Fleece's come from sheep.

Only the natural fleece comes from sheep.
There is also artificial fleece.
Any material that behaves like the natural fleece (or more specifically its source) won't be a problem; your body processes things like that and they will pass ...usually at night.

Re:Synthetic Sheep?

[Anonymous Coward]

He calls it a fleece jacket cause he paid $100 over retail for it.

Re:Synthetic Sheep?

[SlaveToTheGrind]

Fleece's come from sheep.

Traditionally, yes. Here's a more modern type, likely the one TFA is referring to:

"Polar fleece is used in jackets, hats, sweaters, sweatpants, cloth nappies, gym clothes, hoodies, blankets, and high-performance outdoor clothing. It can be made partially from recycled plastic bottles and is very light, soft, and easy to wash."

Re:Synthetic Sheep?

[Anonymous Coward]

Electric sheep. Those that androids dream about.

Re:Synthetic Sheep?

[TeknoHog]

Fleas come from stray dogs. FTFY.

Re:Synthetic Sheep?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fleece's come from sheep.

Incorrect apostrophes come from morons.

Re:Synthetic Sheep?

[TechyImmigrant]

Yup. I typed it too quickly then face-palmed myself.

Reusable ftw!

[Anonymous Coward]

So we just take this sheet out of the laundry, give it a quick rinse under the faucet and it's good to reuse? Genius!

"team of women"

[DaHat]

Not researchers, or scientists, or even interested persons... But simply 'women'. Are we to assume then that their primary qualification is their gender? (Yes I would have the same beef if it had been written as 'a team of men')

Re:"team of women"

[Anonymous Coward]

Women that clearly know that there place is doing laundry. You know, women's work.

Re:"team of women"

[Anonymous Coward]

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=team%20of%20men,team%20of%20women

Re:"team of women"

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, in today's strange world where people can change gender quicker than a politician can their mind, these woman may well be hairy bikers with huge beards in a dress.

It doesn't make sense to do it at the home.

[Lord Kano]

Why not sell the technology in bulk to municipal water treatment facilities and let them remove the plastic microfibers before the water is discharged? They already have to deal with the issue of biosolids from wastewater. They would be more apt to recycle the end product as opposed to home users who would be more likely to throw them away than to recycle them.

LK

Why not impliment at an industrial level?

[wardrich86]

Make a filter for the water company itself. It could be paid for via the utility bill/tax (depending on how your water is handled). It seems like it would be far more effective than making each person have to buy a filter.

Only seafood?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't eat seafood, so I'd like to know if this only applies to seafood.

Easy Search

[Anonymous Coward]

Is there evidence that any of these residual plastic bits that get through the water filters are actually harmful?

Given that you were already connected to the Internet, not looking this up is just plain lazy.

Here is your evidence. I chose it out of 254,000 Google results for "Plastic mimics estrogen" because it is hosted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health as opposed to a partisan site.

Re: Easy Search

[Anonymous Coward]

That would explain why so many millennials are transgender.

How many parts per million?

[Anonymous Coward]

How much of the fish's weight is made up of this?
Is this just proof of much better detection methods?

Not everyone eats fish and marine life...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mooo..

if these poly sheets are so good

[Anonymous Coward]

why dont they use them to filter the water where wastewater treatment plants are, and water recycling plants, and anywhere else water is put in to the municipal water supply? i think somebody just wants to sell people something to put in their washing machines because it does not really do anything otherwise cities would already be using this tech in their waste water treatment and water recycling plants

Re:if these poly sheets are so good

[WillAffleckUW]

Insightful comment. The main problem is economy of scale and ROI. Selling dryer sheets allows one to use existing dryer and filter technology (like for swimming pools and air intake filtration). Selling sewage only ones avoids drains that go direct to water sources, and limits usage only to medium to large cities.

Starting with dryer sheets and air/water intake or outlet filters is a good first step to provide a scalable non-urban environment, and can then be adapted for commercial urban sewage treatment as a side usage.

Always look at scale and cost per unit and difficulty of usage when designing new products. Marketing Econ 220.

Some plastics can be replaced

[WillAffleckUW]

As we all know, you can make compostable and biodegradeable furniture from vegetable matter, and even print it in 3D printers. It's not difficult to make vegetable matter biofilm solids to replace much plastic usage, in terms of plastic bags, plastic wrap, shipping foam, etc. Then this problem disappears, other than for those resins used for microfleece.

But even microfleece can be replaced by vegetable based bioplastics.

If it's for fashion, having something that only lasts a few times becomes less of an issue, or you can use ones that aren't water soluble until exposed to specific wavelengths. But for jackets and sweaters and caps, it's still a minor issue.

The future is bioplastics, replacing plastics. Sadly, we do have to remove the existing micro plastic remnants from our drinking supply, air, and ground for a while after we phase out plastics.

^^ heh heh, deserves upmod.

[Anonymous Coward]

--nomsg

What's the problem?

[Bartles]

Do the microfibers have "chemicals" in them or something?

The Dryer Is The Wrong Place to Address This

[crunchygranola]

They need a solution for municipal water systems so all the plastic from everybody gets trapped in one place.

Re:The Dryer Is The Wrong Place to Address This

[dogbert_2001]

I didn't know fish used plumbing.

Re:The Dryer Is The Wrong Place to Address This

[Anonymous Coward]

There are solutions for filtering this stuff out at a wastewater-treatment plant, but they are expensive. Also, many homes are not on sewer systems but on septic systems; septic residuals often end up as fertilizers and allow microplastics to enter the food chain by that route.

Also there is some evidence that microfibers are entering water supplies by atmospheric deposition. That vector is not well understood.

Re:The Dryer Is The Wrong Place to Address This

[Anonymous Coward]

The pollution is coming from clothes so by using these dryer sheets you can address it at the source, where the pollution is concentrated. Once it gets to the general water supply it will be diluted among a tremendous amount of water. A single municipal water plant will process hundreds of millions of gallons per day of water. These plastic particles are microscopic so you are going to need extremely fine filters to get them out. Those filters are way finer than what typical water plants use today. Running water through a fine filter creates a big pressure drop and so you have to run huge pumps to push the water through. So now we are talking about doing a very energy intensive filtering process on the entire water supply.

Plus, filters that fine will also strip out all the minerals that we actually need to be in the water for human health. Now the water plant will have to add all those minerals back in artificially.

Controlling the pollution at the source really makes a lot of sense. However getting everyone to use these dryer sheets sounds impossible. If it could be made into a form where it is a long lasting element which can be built into the dryers (like a catalytic converter for cars) then that could be made mandatory and maybe that would work.

Here's a better question

[rsilvergun]

why can some people eat anything they damn well please while I'm at the gym 4 days a week and eating 2000 calories a day and still 30 lbs over weight. Answer: Gut Bacteria. How do we know? Poop transplants. Seriously. They found out when they did one from an overweight person to a skinny girl and the skinny girl got fat without changing her diet.

Lots and lots of the stuff we blame on poor moral character is turning out to be physiological. I'm wondering if this will change our society's outlook on life?

Re: Here's a better question

[Anonymous Coward]

2000 calories a day for a male is just a general guideline. If you're eating that much and still overweight in spite of exercising, either you're not really exercising enough or you could actually reduce your calorie intake.
I'm a 5'11", 170lb mid-30s male with a sedentary job and I get by with 1800 calories a day despite being someone who runs at least 30 miles a week.
Although when I have a half-marathon or marathon on I eat thousands of calories worth of carbs the night before and for breakfast. It's not unusual to eat a pound of pasta for dinner and a cup of oats for breakfast as i'll burn at least 2000 calories running half a marathon on a flat course.

How much will they pay me to use their sheets?

[Anonymous Coward]

Make it worth my while or get off my lawn.

Why don't the water companies use this

[Anonymous Coward]

Instead of everybody having to use one in our washing machine. Doh.

I don't buy synthetic fibers

[HalAtWork]

Not only is it dangerous for the environment but also for your body. These microfibers get lodged in your skin and absorbed, increasing risk of cancer. Stopped using them and never have used any on my son. Sucks because sometimes we have to make our own clothes but whatever. Worth it.

Re:I don't buy synthetic fibers

[Gilgaron]

Good on you for making your own clothes but how would they get absorbed through the skin? If they're that small I'd expect any lodged in the outer skin to get sloughed off with all the regular detritus your skin traps and sloughs.

Re:I don't buy synthetic fibers

[HalAtWork]

When you're sitting on them all day or wearing tight clothes or sleeping in them, I imagine the dust-sized pieces can easily do so, not to mention the chemicals they are treated with such as flame retardants, Teflon, formaldehyde... And when all these are absorbed through the skin it bypasses the liver

Re:I don't buy synthetic fibers

[Anonymous Coward]

The skin has bacteria and oils that help break down and integrate such things as well

ewwwwwwwww

[Anonymous Coward]

ewwwwwwwww

Lol

[Anonymous Coward]

You know fish poop in the ocean right?

Not always. Some fleece comes from dogs.

[Anonymous Coward]

I offer the following definitions:

fleece
fls/
noun
1. the woolly covering of a sheep or goat.
"as the sheep came on board, we grabbed their long shaggy fleeces"

2. a thing resembling a sheep's woolly covering, in particular.
"Golly gee, this polar fleece almost keeps me as warm as natural fleece."

verb
1. informal - obtain a great deal of money from (someone), typically by overcharging or swindling them.
"Like he had done to so many others, Donald Trump fleeced me, when he stiffed me on the bill for the piano's I sold him. What a fucking con-artist!! I sure hope noboby is stupid enough to vote for him."

2. literary - cover as if with a fleece.
"the sky was half blue, half fleeced with white clouds"

Click bait bullshit title

[Anonymous Coward]

@msmash did you even read the fucking thing? It's from the dryer... which people usually put washed clothes into. How is that *dirty* laundry?

Slashdot has fallen a long way from their days of glory.

Fuck you msmash you click baiting piece of shit.