When you buy hot tea or coffee at restaurants, they're typically delivered in plastic cups.
Hot drinks can cause plastic cups to leach chemicals such as polystyrene and polypropylene into the beverage.
Similarly, food is often delivered in plastic containers.
Even the paper used to wrap nasi lemak typically has a plastic lining. These materials can release microplastics into food and drinks, which may then enter the our bloodstream.
Authorities do regulate the composition of plastic food and drink containers.
However, the effectiveness of these regulations depends on how well they are enforced.
Authorities may need to conduct surveys to analyse the types of packaging materials used by restaurants.
Authorities should remind restaurant owners, consumers and enforcement agencies that studies have shown higher levels of microplastics in the blood of people who frequently use plastic food containers.
But plastic containers aren't the only way microplastics enter our bodies. We're also exposed to microplastics through inhalation and skin contact.
What impact do microplastics have on human health?
In addition to their potential link to cancer, microplastics may affect cardiovascular health, trigger inflammation, and interfere with blood clotting.
Could microplastics be contributing to the rising prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Malaysia? The prevalence of CKD in Malaysia rose from 9.1 per cent in the 2011 National Health and Morbidity Survey to 15.5 per cent in 2018.
If this trend continues, the number of end-stage kidney disease patients may reach 106,000 by 2040 — costing the healthcare system RM3.2 billion annually.
Microplastics in the bloodstream travel through the organs. The kidneys act as filters, removing toxic substances from the blood.
Microplastics may attach to human cells, including nephrons — the kidney's filtering units — during the filtration process.
Over time, microplastic buildup in nephrons could impair their ability to filter waste from the blood.
The increase in CKD cases may be linked to frequent consumption of food and drinks from plastic packaging.
This is a hypothesis worth testing with empirical evidence.
Suppose microplastics from plastic containers do contribute to CKD in Malaysia.
Policymakers would then need to address the root cause and curb the rise of CKD to ease the healthcare burden. - NST
* The writer, Dr Mohammad Tariqur Rahman is the Deputy Executive Director (Development, Research & Innovation) at International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA), Universiti Malaya.
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