Microplastic dust: the cause du jour

Vincent J. Curtis

6 May 24

RE: Microplastics: a mega problem. Op ed by Tricia Clarkson, who is co-chair of the Peterborough Alliance for Climate Action.

That a story on microplastic dust would be written by the head of a “climate action” committee merely proves that “microplastics!” is replacing climate as the woke-progressive cause du jour.  She can claim that “scientists are finding these harmful fragments in every part of our bodies” all she likes, but it’s still bunkum. She can claim that some “study” found heart disease patients with microplastics in the blood vessels on either side of their necks” (which would be in the carotid arteries) and this too is bunkum. And all the rest about microplastic dust particles raining down on us and in our drinking water.

If microplastic dust particles existed, they would refract light. We could see them, just as we see ordinary dust; we could see white particles in water, floating on top, on the bottom of the container, or turning the clear water murky, depending upon the density of the plastic in question.  Our bodies do not absorb indigestible solid particles like dust: they pass out the digestive tract unabsorbed. If somehow microplastic particles were floating around the bloodstream like tiny blood clots, they would immediately induce strokes and thrombosis whenever they blocked a capillary.  Yet, none of this is observed.  And never mind that the mechanism by which microplastics are created in such enormous volumes remains a mystery.

Microplastics is just the latest in a long line of scares in the attempt to force modern society to stop using wonderful, healthy, and inexpensive modern materials.

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