A dozen different types of toxic microplastics have been discovered in tissue samples from the testicles of 23 men, with a majority of particles found in plastic bags and bottles.
Researchers from the University of New Mexico found 12 types of microplastics in all 23 human testes studied.
Data has shown that sperm counts have decreased by 59 percent in the past few decades, with other culprits ranging from cell phones in pants pockets to vape pens.
‘We don’t want to scare people,’ the study’s lead author said. ‘We want to scientifically provide the data and make people aware.’
The team found that the most prevalent of the 12 microplastics was a polymer material, polyethylene, used in plastic bags and bottles.
The average human concentration was 329.44 micrograms per gram of tissue — vastly more than recent studies of human blood, which came to only tens of micrograms per gram.
Microplastics, smaller than five millimeters in length, enter our bodies through plastic packaging, certain food, tap water and even the air we breathe – and have been linked to cancer and fertility issues.
‘There are a lot of microplastics,’ the study’s lead author Dr. Xiaozhong John Yu, noted. ‘We can make our own choices to better avoid exposures, change our lifestyle and change our behavior.’
