I was just wondering what people do to avoid plastic in your diet. In the paper the other day, someone was saying that we consume a credit card in plastic every week, and most of that is in water, also salt, mussels etc etc. It terrifies me what that could be doing.
I was wondering about salt for starters. We're going to change from sea-salt to Himalayan on the basis that the latter has no plastic in it as I assumed it's from land-locked areas???
Also, we're going to filter ALL our water, tap or bottled as they're both just as bad the paper report said. Just going to use a Brita type filter jug, but has anyone a better idea?
Anyone else doing anything?
Cheers
Cyrtis
21 Replies
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Himalayan salt is just extremely over priced rock salt..has zero advantages over any other rock salt that you can buy anywhere for about a quarter of the price.
all shell fish should be eaten in moderation because of mercury levels that could be in them...I eat all shell fish regularly and have no worries about it. there are some species of fish that seem to higher in mercury then others..you can look this up on the net. the plastic in the ocean is very bad, I only live 100 metres from the sea and I see an endless amount of plastics on the beaches every day..this is very sad but I doubt it has any effect on me from the fish I eat from it..and its laughable to connect it with a credit card..even over a life time.
good idea to use Brita type water filter for drinking water.. were I live it's not advisable to use our tap water even for cooking so we use a osmosis system.. you can look that up on the net as well.
anyway I hope it helps you.
I've just found the article, in a UK newspaper, here it is...
"The average person now ingests five grams of plastic each week, the equivalent of a credit card, a new report by WWF has found.
Researchers found that people are consuming up to 102,000 tiny pieces of plastic of less than 1mm - 250 grams each year - with nearly 90 per cent coming from water, both bottled and tap.
Other foods with highest plastic levels include shellfish, beer and salt.
Alec Taylor, Head of Marine Policy at WWF, said: “Plastic is polluting our planet in the deepest ocean trenches, but now we know that it’s also polluting our own bodies, through the food we eat and the water we drink.
“This report must serve as a wake-up call to the UK Government - we don’t want plastic in our oceans, and we don’t want it on our plates.”
I'd really like to know where you got this article so I can read up on it myself.
plastics in the ocean is not a new thing..I have seen many videos on it and read a few articles on the net on it.. people are trying to do something about it..even here in Thailand steps have been taken in many different areas to control plastics waste. and I believe that it will be brought under control world wide in the not to distant future.
what worries me with this article you read is that we are all on average consuming a credit card a week and we are poisoning ourselves..
as far i as know there is no proof at all that it is having any effect to our health.
am quite sure that I am not consuming a card a week and am also sure that my family and people that I know are not consuming one either.
I think its best when putting on these kind of worrying post.. is to provide the source you got it from so we can look at it and make an informed decision about it..
in reply to
The source has been posted twice above!!! Just follow the links.
in reply to
thank you..I don't open links when I don't know what they are for...as I have come across to many stupid ones in the past.. but now you pointed out to me that this is the one your post was about I will look at it now...
This is very interesting and sadly true so here's a link to the National Geographic;
Here's a paragraph from the above article about plastic ingested when drinking tap water and bottled water, it doesn't make bottled water seem so attractive:
'' People who meet their recommended water intake through tap water ingest an additional 4,000 plastic particles annually, while those who drink only bottled water ingest an additional 90,000, the study found.''
So well done for bringing this to our attention. 😊
Most of the plastic in oceans is caused by fishing. Some stats put that plastic in oceans from fishing at around 75%. If as a society we stopped consuming fish then getting rid of 3/4 of that plastic in the oceans must be a good thing for the health of the world, never mind the fish!
Most of the plastic pollution in the oceans comes from the land, down rivers and from coastal communities in countries where there is a lack of efficient waste disposal systems.
“Overall, approximately 80 percent of ocean plastics come from land-based sources, and 20 percent from marine. But, in particular regions, marine sources can dominate. More than half of plastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) come from fishing nets, ropes and lines“
I'm guessing that maybe the plastic that gets directly into the oceans is mainly from fishing, and the other, which may well be bigger volumes, comes down the rivers.
We can't avoid consuming plastic. its in the soil , the water and the plants. All we can do is try to help the next generations by changing our habits and avoiding plastics wherever we can
Wow, I didn't realise we were consuming that much plastic! And I suppose the fact that plastic containing water is used to water our vegetables must mean they become entrained in our veg as well?
Well I already filter my water and I bought some glass Tupperware so we can store dinners without the plastic (I tend to take lunch in a plastic tub though, because it's lighter)
The only other thing I can think of is to try to reduce single use plastic where practical. I know we could do more, but food is a tough one for us, as allergies mean we can't shop completely plastic packaging free.
The vegetable question is an interesting one. According to this article, it would seem that actual particles of plastic do not end up in veg, but the chemicals released by them may do so, depending on the type of plastic, growing conditions and the role of bacteria in the soil.
I suppose that's something! I'm picturing the stories of long lost rings that turned up in a pumpkin a while later, and was thinking the same might happen with microplastics.
It's weird when you consider just how much distance we've put between us and nature, when you think about it.
Himalayan salt is probably a good choice, as it comes from ancient sea beds, there will be similar salts on the market.
We may have no idea what this is doing to us, but rather than (or as well as) be terrified, perhaps get angry/ active about the problem. Do what you can. Join an organisation that’s working to reduce plastic or clear it up (our nearest beach has ‘clear up days’). Cut down on your own use of plastic. Buy a non-plastic water bottle and carry it with you. Boycott irresponsible firms. Lobby your government.
We are replacing plastic storage with glass, where we can, re-using jam jars. (I believe it’s called re-purposing nowadays). What more you can do will depend on where you live. We now have the opportunity in our town to refill bottles of some bath and laundry products.
If you’re in the U.K. have a look at the latest TV programs by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall for some ideas.
I am careful, obviously, not to believe everything we hear in the media, but listening to a scientist on the radio the other day who certainly sounded very convincing, she was saying that she was as worried, maybe even more so, by biodegradable plastics. She said it "biodegrades" into super-tiny-nano particles, I think she said even smaller than the micro-particles we hear about, and no-one knows what the effects of this will be. That seems to make sense to me, so we've gone off biodegradable bags now as well !!!
I'm def going to change over to Himalayan salt and filter all water. Can't do any harm and may help.
Re plastics and fishing. I went to a beach in Wales last year that was covered in plastic, one of these places where the currents bring it all up on the beach, and it was as andyswarbs says, it was mainly green "nylon" fishing net material, just little pieces usually, very few large or long ones.
Hi Cyrtis, I'm new to the forum, Ive recently started using a Brita filter jug, I think there is an electric filter that connects to your water tap which would save a lot of extra work, I seem to be filling the filter all day. and I also use glass containers in the fridge, and glass bottles for drinks, I never buy bottled water. We don't know what harm it could be doing to our bodies, it may not show its self for many years.
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