https://news.rambler.ru/img/2020/06/23/183902.261427.769.jpeg

The researchers found that plants are able to absorb tiny bits of plastic through the roots. It would seem that it promises a cleansing of the planet, but no — can change the plants themselves, and therefore the food that we grow.

A group of researchers studied the ability of plants to absorb plastic in the laboratory. As a Guinea was the weed Arabidopsis thaliana or just reshoved tal. In the roots he put shredded plastic, the grain size of which was less than 100 nanometers. For comparison, a sheet of ordinary writing paper has a thickness of about 100,000 nanometers. We are talking about very small granules. In the experiment, scientists have determined how deep in the plants penetrates the plastic, and also assessed its impact on the biology and genetics of the weed.

“the Authors took into account the concentration of microplastics measured in soils, wrote the Professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers Phoebe Stapleton, who studied neoplastic, but not in this study, in the email edition of the Earther. Therefore, these doses are not just designed for laboratory studies, but represent the concentrations found in the environment.”

The nanoparticles were able to penetrate through the tissue of the roots and blocked the water flow. The study authors also found that nanoplastic prevent proper growth of plants and damage to seedlings.

Worse still, scientists believe that the plastic altered the genetic composition of plants: fixed sequence of RNA involves the confrontation of various diseases. However, this part of the experiment requires further analysis, and scientists are already working on him to learn more about genetic influences.

By the way, crops are often close plastic films that protect them from the weather. But perhaps it does more harm than good. Moreover, microscopic plastic particles can be transported over long distances.

“Plants are the basis of many food chains, says Professor of environmental Sciences and engineering, Xian-Zheng yuan of the University of Shandong in Jinan (China). Therefore, the accumulation of nanoplastics in plants could have implications for other trophic levels is a potential risk to production, quality and safety of food products”.