US doctors link microplastics to premature births

Yahoo

31-01-2025

Microplastics and nanoplastics are more likely to show up in the placentae of premature babies than those born full-term, according to a team of US-based doctors.
The discovery means there is a "possibility" that the plastic shards "could be contributing to the risk and occurrence of preterm birth," according to Kjersti Aagaard of Boston Children's Hospital.
Microplastics are smaller than 5 millimetres, while nanoplastics are too tiny to be seen by the human eye. In recent years they have been found in male reproductive organs and have been shown to pass from mother to unborn baby.
"When combined with other recent research, this study adds to the growing body of evidence, ranging from heart disease to potentially stroke, that demonstrates a real risk of exposure to plastics on human health and disease," said Aagaard.
"The finding of higher placental concentrations among preterm births was surprising because it was counter-intuitive to what you might expect if it was merely a byproduct of the length of time of the pregnancy," said Enrico Barrozo of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.
The team's research was based on "highly sensitive" mass spectrometry analysis of 175 placentae; 100 of which were at term and 75 collected preterm or at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy. It was published in the medical journal Pregnancy and presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting on January 30.