Toxic Microplastics, Microbes Being Released as Microwave Ovens Heat Plastic Containers for Baby Food

When heated in microwave ovens, plastic baby food containers release harmful microplastics and microbes, according to a study by a new father.

Microwave Ovens and Plastic Containers

According to recent research, using plastic containers in microwave ovens releases hazardous microplastics, which has the researcher, who just became a father, in a true panic.

Researcher Kazi Albab Hussain stated in an interview with Wired about a recent study from the University of Nebraska that his decision to become a father motivated him to investigate the circumstances around the food containers his child was fed.

The findings by Hussain are nonetheless unexpectedly surprising.

He added that he had seen a lot of plastic being used when he was purchasing baby food.

Hussain claimed he was scared when he first looked at the containers under a microscope to analyze them under various settings. He also claimed that after being exposed to the baby food container particles for 48 hours, 75% of cultivated kidney cells died.

Microplastics, Nanoplastics, Leachates

Microplastics have gained widespread attention in recent years as research after research has revealed that they are practically present everywhere, including the ocean, the soil, and human beings.

Given the growing body of research into these pervasive pieces of trash swimming around and inside of us, this recently discovered fact wouldn't have been all that shocking, but Hussain's discovery that microplastics, nanoplastics, and toxic chemicals called leachates are released when microwaving plastic containers, is still startling.

Houssain discovered that microwaving appears to release nanoplastics, which are similar to microplastics but significantly smaller.

This finding is even more concerning.

The bad news is that while our kidneys can filter out the larger particles, they have a difficult time doing so with the much smaller nanoplastics.

As a result, they can pass through the cell membranes of the body and, in the words of John Boland, a Trinity College chemistry professor in Dublin, may end up in areas they shouldn't.

Long carbon chains, known as polymers, are combined with chemical additives, or tiny molecules, to form complex mixtures known as plastics. These additives give the polymers their final shape and provide them resistance to UV rays, oxidation, and other types of wear and tear.

Heat plus hydrolysis, a chemical mechanism in which water molecules break bonds, are two devastating effects of microwaving.

All of these have the potential to cause a container to break and release microscopic fragments of itself in the form of harmful leachates, microplastics, and nanoplastics, according to Wired.

Plastics Out of Polymers

According to Irish professor Boland, microplastics enter the body and are then excreted. However, it is also possible that nanoplastics could be extremely harmful. Boland did not take part in the investigation.

The study's authors note that making plastics from various polymers could be one potential solution, but doing so would require spending money on studying and developing those new compounds, which seems unlikely to be done proactively given how sectors have handled other health and environmental problems.

Despite this, the researcher Hussain, whose decision to become a father prompted the study, is optimistic and says that he won't use any plastic containers in microwaves until products without microplastics are available, Futurism reported.

The study, done by Hussain and his team, was recently published in the ACS Publications journal Environmental Science and Society.