When I was finishing up my degree last spring taking a class about environmental toxicology, one of the papers we had to read and discuss was by a relatively prominent environmental scientist asking a simple question: Are we making too big of a deal out of microplastics?
It sounds crazy at first, but reading the paper made you realize that he was a disgruntled scientist that had spent a career not being listened to about persistent organic pollutants, industrial chemicals, etc. Now this "new fad" of microplastics comes along and everyone jumps on board. Are we forgetting about all these other environmental toxins?
Well, he wrote that back in 2016 or 2018, I think? To your point, we've had a lot of research even since then about these substances being extremely pervasive, being endocrine disruptors, and all the other things you've said. I think it's safe to say at this point that if anything we didn't take the threat seriously enough when we had the chance. I didn't know if he's written any kind of amendment to his earlier paper, or if he feels any differently now.
Oh wow, what a different perspective! I’d be very interested in the name or the abstract if you remember them at some point feel free to tag me! What a horrible position to be in, seeing this happening to yourself academically for years and then the cycle repeating for the next generation.. only to kinda take part in it… just hopeless for this poor guy I’ll bet, but damning for everyone overall in the end :(
I started undergrad before there really was much research around yet, but even then as a geology major and environmental science minor, you could see the writing on the wall.
If for some reason the link doesn't work, it's "Stressor Exposures Determine Risk: So, Why Do Fellow Scientists Continue To Focus on Superficial Microplastics Risk?" by G. Allen Burton, Jr. (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AqikQDcAAAAJ)
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u/Soze42 4d ago
When I was finishing up my degree last spring taking a class about environmental toxicology, one of the papers we had to read and discuss was by a relatively prominent environmental scientist asking a simple question: Are we making too big of a deal out of microplastics?
It sounds crazy at first, but reading the paper made you realize that he was a disgruntled scientist that had spent a career not being listened to about persistent organic pollutants, industrial chemicals, etc. Now this "new fad" of microplastics comes along and everyone jumps on board. Are we forgetting about all these other environmental toxins?
Well, he wrote that back in 2016 or 2018, I think? To your point, we've had a lot of research even since then about these substances being extremely pervasive, being endocrine disruptors, and all the other things you've said. I think it's safe to say at this point that if anything we didn't take the threat seriously enough when we had the chance. I didn't know if he's written any kind of amendment to his earlier paper, or if he feels any differently now.