Plastic in Our Bodies: How Did This Become Normal?

For decades, plastic pollution felt like a problem we could point at from a distance – floating in oceans, tangled in wildlife, piling up in landfills far from daily life. It was ugly, yes, but abstract. Something happening out there. But writes Bluewater chief communications officer Dave Noble, that illusion is now collapsing. As research catches up with reality, a far more unsettling picture is emerging: the plastic age isn’t just reshaping the planet around us – it’s reshaping us.

As we roll toward another new year, one uncomfortable truth is impossible to ignore: plastic is no longer just clogging rivers and oceans. It’s now inside us.

In 2025, the evidence became hard to look away from. Scientists around the world confirmed what many of us already suspected: microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics are increasingly turning up in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. Studies have found that, on average, a litre of bottled water can contain hundreds of microplastic particles, grounding this concern in stark reality. These particles now appear in human waste, bloodstreams, lungs, and even organs once thought to be protected, according to research examining the broader impacts of micro- and nanoplastics on human health.

And yet, despite this mounting evidence, we still don’t really know what it means for our health. That uncertainty should be sobering, especially given what we already know about other endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in plastics. Severalstudies have indicated that certain plastic-related compounds can interfere with hormone systems, raising red flags about what chronic exposure to microplastics might mean for humans. The stakes could be high, even if we can’t yet definitively measure them.

That should worry everyone.

Bluewater founder and CEO Bengt Rittri notes: “With microplastics in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink, it’s crazy how little serious research is underway into what this actually means for human health.”

A Swedish ecopreneur who also founded indoor air purification leader Blueair, Rittri adds: “The production of throwaway plastic bottles continues unabated with attempts to cut them back seemingly being hampered by powerful lobbying.” His warning echoes wider concerns raised after international plastic treaty negotiations stalled in Geneva.

Let’s be clear about how we got here. Single-use plastic bottles are designed to be disposable. Used once. Forgotten. Except they don’t disappear. They fragment into smaller and smaller pieces that spread everywhere — oceans, soil, crops, wildlife, and now us.

Research shows these particles can enter the body through swallowing, breathing, and possibly even skin contact. Once inside, they don’t politely stay put. Studies suggest they can move through the bloodstream, lodge in tissues, trigger inflammation, stress cells, interfere with immune systems, and disrupt the gut microbiome — a delicate internal ecosystem that helps regulate digestion, immunity, and even mental health.

Some studies have raised the possibility that microplastics cross into the brain or reproductive organs. Others suggest links to cardiovascular stress or chronic inflammation. A 2025 narrative review explored possible biological pathways linking microplastics to impaired male reproductive health. None of this proves long-term harm yet, but that’s exactly the problem. We don’t know. And we should.

Humans have never lived with a pollutant this widespread, this persistent, or this poorly understood. Waiting for perfect proof while exposure keeps rising isn’t caution. It’s negligence.

Meanwhile, plastic bottle production continues to climb into the billions every year, driven by an industry that still frames disposability as convenience. The health and environmental costs, however, are quietly passed on to everyone else.

Even regulators are playing catch-up. European authorities acknowledge that current evidence is not yet sufficient to fully assess the risks posed by microplastics in food, water, and air, highlighting major gaps in data and exposure assessment. This uncertainty risks falling hardest on low-income and frontline communities, who often face higher exposure and fewer protections – effectively becoming unwitting participants in a global experiment without informed consent.

This isn’t just an environmental issue anymore. It’s a public health issue. A planetary health issue. What poisons ecosystems doesn’t magically stop at the edge of the human body.

We don’t need more handwringing. We need serious investment in long-term health research. We need policies that cut plastic at the source. And we need to stop pretending single-use plastic bottles are harmless just because the damage is mostly invisible – for now.

With microplastics now permeating human biology, reproductive organs, and entire ecosystems, experts say a coordinated global research effort is essential. Understanding the full impact of micro- and nanoplastics on human and planetary health is no longer optional – it is urgent.