For the first time in Latin America, pieces of microplastic were found in umbilical placentas and cords of Brazilian pregnant womenin the city of Maceió, capital of Alagoas. In ten crashed samples of pregnant women attended by the Unified Health System (SUS), 229 particles were detected – 119 in umbilical cords, in eight of the samples.
Detection in greater quantity in umbilical cords than in placentas is worrying for scientists. The relationship indicates that these particles cross the placental barrier and reach the fetuswhich raises doubts about the possible impacts on gestational development and future health of the child.
The findings were published on Friday (25), in the magazine Proceedings of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, by researchers at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), in partnership with the Havaiana University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.
With microplastics capable of crossing the placental barrier, there is a possibility that children will be born with plastic in the body, according to biomedical Alexandre Urban Borly, professor at UFAL and one of the authors of the study, in an interview with CNN.
Laboratory analyzes showed that microplastics (less than 5 millimeters) were, in May part, polyethylene (present in disposable plastic packaging) and polyamide (common in synthetic tissues).
“As the analysis was performed in just about 40 grams of fabric, we estimate that the actual amount of particles per organ is even higher,” says Alexandre Urban Borly.
The researchers point to marine pollution as a possible origin of contamination, by consumption of seafood, considered a Potential source of plastic particle intake.
In the study, scientists point out that 75% of the waste on the edge of Maceió is made up of plastics – especially bags and packaging of ultra -processed products – and lack of access to treated water leads to the population to consumption of potted water, whose transport under intense solar radiation can accelerate the release of plastic containers. THE CNN contacted the city of the capital of Alagoas and awaits return.
The material was anticipated by Bori agency.
