Concerns over microplastic exposure grow, but scientists are skeptical of the new at-home diagnostic tools.
As scientists sound the alarm over microplastics in human brains—which may be as much as a plastic spoon’s worth—some people are turning to at-home tests to measure how much plastic is in their bloodstream.
These kits offer a snapshot of microplastic concentrations, along with personalized “battle plans” with actionable steps for reducing exposure.
But as interest in these at-home tests grows, experts caution that they are likely to deliver more anxiety than answers.
The Caveat With Blood Tests
While blood may seem like an obvious starting point, since it’s the highway through which substances travel to various organs, it may not be the most reliable way to detect microplastics, Dr. Matthew Campen, head of the toxicology laboratory at the University of New Mexico, told The Epoch Times.
Campen compares blood to a city’s metro system: millions of people live in the city, but only a small fraction will be on the train at any given time. The levels of microplastic in the blood is also transient.
Since blood is essentially just a “transit route” for these particles, the concentrations found in blood could be far lower than in organs where they might settle, Campen said.
Campen’s team has detected more than 5,000 micrograms of plastic particles per milliliter of brain tissue, while a 2022 study in organ donors have estimated around 1.6 micrograms per milliliter of blood.
Given this, testing for microplastics in blood could be highly misleading.
Dr. Win Cowger, research director at the Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research, agrees. “The combination of limited quantities in the blood and the challenges of sampling means the results from these tests are highly uncertain,” he told The Epoch Times.
Detecting Plastic in Blood Is Difficult
With just a finger prick of blood, manufacturers of these at-home tests say that they screen for common plastics found in products like toys, cosmetics, and beverage bottles—such as polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
“A drop of blood is a very small unit,” Cowger explains. Current studies estimate there are only around four microplastic particles per milliliter of blood, while a single drop of blood is far smaller at just one-tenth of that.
Getting a reliable estimate of microplastics in circulation is therefore challenging since a single drop of blood will give a smaller sampling of microplastics.
“You have about a 40 percent chance of finding just one [microplastic] particle,” Cowger said. This makes detection especially difficult when using home testing methods.
