The ubiquity of plastic makes studying the presence of microplastics in human tissue challenging — was the plastic actually found in the body, or was it introduced through plastic used in the research? “The tumor and the benign tissue samples were from the same patient and underwent exactly the same handling, so the fact that we’re seeing a high concentration of plastics in the tumor can’t really easily be explained by a contamination.” Loeb and her colleagues have already secured a grant from the Defense Department, now rebranded the Department of War, for a larger study, analyzing the amount of plastic in tissue samples from 30 prostate cancer patients, as well as assessing whether there is a link between the quantity of plastic and the amount of inflammation in the tissue.
Author: David Cox
Published at: 2026-02-23 22:00:45
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