Probably fertility. It's almost certain that the decreased average sperm count is related to microplastics. It's less clear if it's related to our elevated rate of prostate cancer, but I'm cool with blaming big oil for that, too.

Can something be done? Possibly, who knows?

Will something be done? I wouldn't hold my breath.

This isn't the only potentially human civilization-ending event I first heard about this past month, and that doesn't include climate change that we've known about for literally decades, which many of the major players involved including the USA and China still don't seem to care much about even now.

There is a saying: "put your money where your mouth is", meaning that if people want to truly "care" about something - e.g. to be Pro-Life - then we need to actually get up off the couch and do something about what we otherwise claim to but don't really care. For instance we could... I dunno, wear masks when we feel the slightest hint of a respiratory illness coming on - cheap, trivially easy, and can save literal lives. And not to trivialize this, some people truly do care - even as I type this I'm listening to a livestream talking about restoration taking much more effort but yielding much greater results than merely shaming people by pointing out something bad.

However, and a bit ironically, Big Tobacco and Big Oil and Big Sugar and Big Tech and Big Plastic etc. all do this, investing great efforts into stopping efforts to try to stop them. Without equal or greater efforts in opposition... well, like I said, I would not hold my breath.

Not mine. Mine so big, they got their own municipal recycling program.

Think of the profits corporations will be able to make curing the impacts of this!

I'm guessing it's unknown. There's microplastic in testes, and it's not good for fertility. Getting that far probably required a lot of research. Understanding the mechanism and projecting it forwards will require way, way more.

It's irreversible at this point and nothing you can do except hope it won't affect your health.

It's only fair that it's happening to humans since we are destroying the planet.

Preliminary testes have suggested it will be an issue, but we need another few rounds of testes to be sure.

I think micro plastics in our anything will probably be an issue

Well perhaps the microplastics will reduce the overall fertility rate of the human population at large. Perhaps life itself will get so difficult for the average person, they'll be discouraged from having babies, and perhaps only then will the worst effects of climate change will be narrowly averted...maybe.

One of the worst things you can do to the environment folks. Don't bear children. Don't invite another being into this madness and suffering.

My fear is not enough to be noticeable. More than enough to matter.

Ancient romans and lead pipes come to mind

Soon we will all be plastic. Its already in our food and water.

What i really think about is these are only the effects so far from the plastics that have started to break down from when plastics were created (smaller quantities). What happens when the plastics of today start to break down (larger quantities).

Kind of like the effects of oil (air pollution) being felt 30-50 years down the line.

On the upside - they won't be as harmful as the PFAS in our systems.

On the downside - they'll still probably be harmful.

Mother nature - y'all motherfuckers are on your own.

DOW CEO - hey maybe the PFAS will eradicate the microplastic cancers! This could be win win, let's see what happens!

Not a problem for 50% of humans.

Experiments in rats have found that once plastic is introduced to their environment, their ability to reproduce declines drdmstically. Genitalia are smaller, slerm rates lower. And the effect compounds and grows generation after generation, getting worse and worse so long as plastic is consumed.

Studies have also shown that human fertility (regarding actual physical ability to reproduce, not the choice of whether to do so) has dropped dramatically genetation on generation since the rise of plastics

https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2023/dec/19/chemicals-affecting-sperm-reproductive-health-infertility

not me I'm getting them removed lmao

We'll just have to chew more.

Plastic babies with poseable figures; you'll be able to get them into any cool action pose for selfies!

I finally got a good paying job, by wife is starting to move up at her's and we could finally afford to have kids (with support from our families) Then plastic balls memes start