
It's raining plastic: microscopic fibers fall from the sky in Rocky Mountains - elorant
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/12/raining-plastic-colorado-usgs-microplastics
======
TACIXAT
This era will be marked by a layer of plastic in the geological record.

~~~
jasonless
I read in this one report where the life expectancy from 1890-1960 increased
from 40 years (of age) to 65. The highest increase ever in human history.
During this time the US was going through an industrial revolution I believe?
I'm not sure. With tons of factories and smoke stacks polluting the air. Yet
quality of life was fine? I guess if we pair that with plastic falling from
the sky there is nothing to worry about? Also the article mentioned the
plastic particles were super small. Not sure if that would really hurt anyone.
Likely marginal? What do everyone else think?

~~~
ivl
The increase in lifespan is more due to childhood mortality falling sharply in
those years.

I've always found average lifespan to be problematic. Most of the deaths
weren't from 65 being the age where old age started to kill. It was on account
of how many more infants and children started reaching 5 on account of
vaccines.

~~~
joombaga
To flip this completely on its head, I'd be interested to see how childhood
mortality rates have been affected by major events in plastics.

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baxtr
I’m sure they can also be found in the air we breathe already. I wonder how
much damage they cause. Plastic as such is quite a inert material. I would
guess smoking a single cigarette a day is way worse

~~~
cr0sh
> Plastic as such is quite a inert material.

Certain plastics are used for implants - there must be a good reason for it?
Bioreactivity, rejection, degradation? Those and other reasons might be a
concern to be thought about in regards to inhaled plastic fibers.

Not to mention if there were issues with the fibrous nature itself (like
"fibrous minerals" cause certain diseases)...

~~~
gingabriska
Nearly everything you put in body like silicone, plastic, titanium have known
negative effects.

~~~
baxtr
Even food they say!

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Dutchie2020
I guess our only hope to ever clean this up is for evolution or bioengineering
to give us some microplastic eating bacteria.

~~~
aszantu
sadly that will also eat your smart phone xD

~~~
Dutchie2020
Yes, and filling the environment with lots of plastic eating bacteria will
also make it useless as a durable packaging material.

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pmahoney
Maybe? Wood is useful even though there are things that will eat it under the
right conditions.

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denom
Maybe we should use wood instead of plastic.

~~~
reilly3000
Hemp

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Zamicol
So how dangerous are microplastics to the lungs? Will microplastics become the
asbestos of the future?

~~~
travisporter
It troubles me that there are man-made particles in the air and everywhere,
but I was shamed on HN 4 months ago for worrying about it.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19673894](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19673894).
Not sure how to feel about it now.

~~~
mikekchar
It's hard for me to write this well, so before I begin I hope you don't take
offense. I think it's easy to feel shame if someone disagrees with you and
especially if they take the time to back up their argument with some evidence
as the responder to your statement did. However, I think it's kind of an
unfortunate reaction. That person gave you a gift -- they spent time out of
their day to explain to you why they disagreed. It's not meant to beat you
back, or to make you seem stupid (at least from my perspective). Your original
comment didn't have any supporting evidence: it was just a statement. While it
may very well be true, it's really hard for a reader to judge. I don't know
you. I don't know how well you understand the field. If you make a statement,
I'm always going to be a bit wary -- because there are a lot more people who
are mistaken on the internet when they think they know something, than people
who actually know something.

As much as possible, I'd like to encourage you to take the time and effort to
back up your statements and to share your knowledge in a way that people like
me can appreciate. I know it takes time and you may be thinking, "If I need to
back up everything I say, then I won't have time to say anything!". However, I
think it's fine to pick and choose your moments (BTW, as you might gather from
this message, this is something I also struggle with!) If everyone who read HN
posted their opinion without spending the time to show how they arrived at
that opinion, we would be buried in meaningless arguments. That's why it is so
important for people like you, who seem to know something about the subject
matter, to spend that time to make a really quality reply. Everyone will
benefit, I feel.

Perhaps you will disagree, but at the very least I hope you come away with the
feeling that it is not necessary to experience shame if someone disagrees with
you -- indeed, even if you happen to be wrong. Especially if you are wrong,
_you_ are the one that benefits the most because you can learn something new.
It really is all good.

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GuiA
The photos don't show a scale. What magnification microscope should I get to
look at the rain droplets falling where I live so that I can see how much
plastic there is?

~~~
herlitzj
The linked study says 40x
[https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2019/1048/ofr20191048.pdf](https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2019/1048/ofr20191048.pdf)

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ryanmercer
And we've known this for some time, in other areas:

>Scientists recorded a daily rate of 365 microplastic particles per square
meter falling from the sky in the Pyrenees Mountains in southern France.

[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/micro...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/microplastics-
pollution-falls-from-air-even-mountains/)

~~~
semi-extrinsic
In other research, scientists found that approx. 100 microplastic particles
fall on a dinner plate during the course of a meal. If that's a long meal (1h)
and a very large dinner plate (0.25 m^2), it gives us a lowball estimated rate
of 10 000 per square meter per day, every day inside the house where you live.

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974911...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117344445?via%3Dihub)

~~~
kurthr
I do worry about atmospheric plastic particles, but...

I suspect that reported air quality metrics like PM10/PM2.5 measure this
already. I'm doubtful that 10k plastic particles are landing inside your house
simply because external air turnover isn't that fast (only a few per day).
Either it's coming from inside your house or the density outside is
anomalously high.

The total volume would be <10m3 and peak PM10 is typically less than 5ug/m³
(often less than 1 where I live). A 10um diameter particle is a few nanograms
so 10,000 would mean all of the particles in the air are plastic. We know that
dust, smoke, and other sources are significant as well.

~~~
ryanmercer
> I'm doubtful that 10k plastic particles are landing inside your house simply
> because external air turnover isn't that fast (only a few per day).

In your house they are likely much higher as they're coming from your shoes,
your synthetic fiber clothes, your carpet, that 25 year old plastic dog your
gran gave you.

The carpet fiber dust at my job is insane, I wipe down my plane model every
day, and 24 hours later you can see little red/blue/green/tan carpet fibers
already accumulating from the foot traffic in the office, if I let it go a
week it (and skin/hair etc) will cake on my finger if I run it down.

~~~
kurthr
Wool carpets on hardwood floors. I see plenty of dust outside (construction?)
but very little in the house. If I don't wipe the table for a week, I can't
tell other than animal foot prints. I leave windows and doors open hours every
day. At work the office seems about class 100k, but I guess the aircon system
if filtering well enough.

I don't doubt it's possible to create such an environment, but it's not
"natural" or environmental other than in the sense of what you choose (as much
as circumstances let you) to live in.

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jmpman
With the amount of Patagonia Polar Fleeces going through the dryers, not too
surprising.

~~~
BrianHenryIE
And the number of cars on the roads

>The relative contribution of tyre wear and tear to the total global amount of
plastics ending up in our oceans is estimated to be 5–10%.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5664766/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5664766/)

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gnopgnip
There is a lot of bad science here. Possible contamination from using plastic
bags to collect samples. Results not matching the expected distribution
between rural and urban samples.

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workingpatrick
Reading this scares me to the point I want to wear a Surgical Mask everywhere
like I'm in a Tokyo subway station.

~~~
youareostriches
Then you’ll simply be breathing in even more loose particles from the inside
surface of your mask.

Surgical masks are made to redirect the _exhaled breath_ of nurses and doctors
away from hospital patients.

~~~
hnarn
He/she probably meant a particle filter mask, but it's always good to point
out that this is something comoletely different from a surgical mask. Sadly a
lot of people that really should depend on the particle filtration don't
understand this, and wear surgical masks instead.

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mcphage
Whelp, I guess it's time to start breeding dragons...

~~~
CUViper
ref:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pern#Thread](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pern#Thread)

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tqkxzugoaupvwqr
I read about plastic raining from the sky years ago. …From people who posted
in a conspiracy theory forum because no one would officially acknowledge the
problem and they were desperate to bring attention to it. They had photos of
people developing serious health problems from it. One case I remember:
Someone developed a skin condition with what looked like tiny plastic threads
growing on the arms. These people lived in the mountains.

~~~
GuiA
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons)

