This Startup Says It Can Clean Your Blood of Microplastics
1 min read
Summary
Microplastics have been found in a range of environments, including Mount Everest, the Mariana Trench, tap water, beer, salt, cows’ milk, semen, and human placentas, according to a report in Wired UK.
In early March, the author sent a sample of a few drops of blood, milked from fingertips, to be tested for microplastics, and sent the sample to a London clinic called Clarify Clinics, where it was tested as part of a £9,750 ($12,636) treatment to reduce levels of microplastics in the blood using a machine that separates out plasma from blood cells, filters the plasma to trap microplastics, and then re-mixes the blood cells with the plasma.
However, a 2022 report from the WHO concluded that there was not yet enough evidence to assess the risk to human health from microplastics, and a 2024 study found that people with microplastics in fatty plaques in their carotid arteries were at increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, although it couldn’t establish a causal link between microplastics and health.
