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Where is FDA on Microplastics?
FDA sees no connection between microplastics and human health. So why dedicate a new website to tracking them?
2 Min Read
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At a Glance
- FDA's new web page is aimed at centralizing the research on microplastics and nanoplastics in the food supply.
- Research shows these plastics in foods and beverages while the Agency says levels detected aren't a human health risk.
The issue of plastic waste is a hot topic, especially as it relates to the prevalence of micro- and nanoplastics in our oceans, their presence in our foods and beverages, and more recently, the discovery of these tiny plastics in various parts of our bodies. FDA has entered the conversation, creating a new web page dedicated to centralizing the research on microplastics and nanoplastics in the food supply, explaining what is known about their health effects, and describing ways in which the FDA is working to advance the science.
On the site’s landing page, FDA concedes that while microplastics and nanoplastics may be present in food, primarily from environmental contamination where foods are grown or raised, “there is not sufficient scientific evidence to connect microplastics and nanoplastics from plastic food packaging migrate into foods and beverages.” The agency states that human exposure could be connected to air, food, and absorption through the skin from the use of personal care products.
Microplastics are considered to be less than five millimeters in size in at least one dimension. Nanoplastics are even smaller, typically considered to be less than one micron - for reference, the diameter of a human hair is about 70 microns.
FDA: 'No present risk to human health.'
In fact, although many studies have reported the presence of microplastics in several foods, including salt, seafood, sugar and honey, and in beverages like beer, bottled water, milk and tea, FDA maintains that current scientific evidence “does not demonstrate that the levels of microplastics or nanoplastics detected in foods pose a risk to human health” – meaning until science connects the dots linking these microscopic plastics to a human health condition, FDA’s position is that levels of microplastics or nanoplastics detected in foods is not a risk to human health and therefore aren’t in violation to any regulation.
Current scientific studies, FDA states, “have used methods of variable, questionable, and/or limited accuracy and specificity,” leading the agency to recommend that researchers work to overcome the lack of standardized methods for how to detect, quantify, or characterize microplastics and nanoplastics.
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