'Do you eat plastic?' 

'I think so.' 

Two weeks ago, I would have had a completely different answer to that question.

But last week, I saw a cow directly chew on a plastic bag while it sniffed through a rubbish pit. Strange, right? If it had not happened in front of my eyes as I strolled through the area neighbouring my hostel, I would not have believed it. 

As I researched more on this, I found that Ingestion of plastics is something done often by animals including humans, both directly and indirectly. 

A study suggests that humans consume about 20 kg of micro plastics in a lifetime. A microplastic particle is any piece of plastic smaller than five millimeters, but many are much smaller and only visible under a microscope. How do we take them in?

Microplastics can be found everywhere from water and air to soil and meat. Herbivores dine on them as they graze through fields of grass with plastic in them. The waters are rich in microplastics from poorly disposed of plastic waste, and marine wildlife take them up.

As humans, we take them in, in water, seafood, meat products and in air during inhalation. 

Therefore, I think I have eaten plastic many times as I learn more about the omnipresence of microplastics in our food supply. Plastic in our bodies is a health hazard that can induce cancers, reproductive toxicity, low birth weight and eye and skin irritations.

How can we mitigate these?

References

How much plastic are you eating?

https://news.trust.org/item/20201208090301-obmrm

Why Are There Microplastics In Meat?

https://www.aimplasticfree.com/food/microplastics-in-meat/

Image source:  Flickr