Plastics used to make furniture, electronics, and home insulation contain toxic chemicals that scientists have found can be easily absorbed into human skin.
Toxic chemicals used to make laptops, baby seats, and smartphones more flameproof can easily pass through human skin and leach into bloodstream, scientists at the University of Birmingham have shown for first time.
These substances, which are used in a range of household items, even baby changing tables, and can interfere with thyroid function, cognitive development, motor skills, and ovarian function, along with increasing cancer risk.
Researchers already knew they could enter the body through food and water, but this is the first time they’ve shown that the chemicals can seep into the skin.
Some of the toxic chemicals have been banned by the UK, the European Union, and 13 US states including Maine, Hawaii, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Maryland and New York.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham found five chemicals used to make plastics more flameproof can leach into sweat and absorb into human skin. Pictured are products made with the chemicals
Scientists put microplastics containing PBDEs onto 3D human skin equivalent (left), let it soak, and then removed it for analysis (top right). Sweatier skin (bottom right) is more vulnerable to these toxic chemicals soaking through and entering the bloodstream.
Introduced in the 1970s, the group of chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), were supposed to make people safer, but they came with unintended consequences.
The new study looked at if toxic chemicals could be absorbed by the skin from microplastics.
Microplastics are persistent pests, though, and they stick around in the environment indefinitely.
Using simulated skin 3D-printed from human skin cells, scientists were able to test how PBDEs soak through skin – without having to expose people or animals to the harmful chemicals.
They moistened the skin and exposed it to two different types of microplastics for 24 hours.
It was important to moisten the skin for two reasons, the researchers noted.
One, to simulate what happens during normal life – the skin sweats a little bit.
And two, because research has shown that skin moisture affects how these chemicals are absorbed.
The team tested the skin after 24 hours, and they found that it absorbed up to 8 percent of the PBDEs from the microplastics.
The chemicals in question were BDE 47, BDE 99, BDE 100, BDE 153, and BDE 183, which are all known to be toxic.
When the skin was sweatier, it absorbed larger quantities of the chemicals.
‘Microplastics are everywhere in the environment and yet we still know relatively little about the health problems that they can cause,’ said first study author Dr Ovokeroye Abafe, who conducted the research at Birmingham University.
The above map shows states which have brought in bans on some forms of PBDEs. They are banned in many countries including the European Union
A scientist holds up Episkin, the lab-produced simulated skin made from actual human skin cells.
‘Our research shows that they play a role as ‘carriers’ of harmful chemicals, which can get into our bloodstream through the skin. These chemicals are persistent, so with continuous or regular exposure to them, there will be a gradual accumulation to the point where they start to cause harm.’
Part of the reason scientists still don’t fully understand the health consequences of microplastics is that there are dozens of different types of plastics, which can contain thousands of different chemicals.
But it is clear that PBDEs are harmful to human health.
In fact, much of the concerns about PBDEs came up in the early 2000s, when a study showed that women’s breastmilk contained some of the harmful substances.
But just last year, a similar experiment showed that, out of 50 women’s samples of breastmilk in the same region, every single one of them contained PBDEs.
A 2018 study found the chemicals in fish in the US and UK.
And a study published earlier this month found that people with higher levels of PBDEs in their blood had higher risks of dying from cancer.
So even though PBDEs are not as commonly used anymore, they are still out there – and still being made.
Dr Mohamed Abdallah, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, and senior scientist for the project, said: ‘These findings provide important evidence for regulators and policymakers to improve legislation around microplastics and safeguard public health against harmful exposure.’
