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Plastic Matter. By Heather Davis
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This review examines Heather Davis's book 'Plastic Matter,' which argues that plastic has become so pervasive -- including in human blood, as newly documented research at the time of publication confirmed -- that it now fundamentally shapes contemporary human and non-human relations, raising questions of inheritance and ecological intimacy. The reviewer situates the book within the growing body of scientific evidence on ubiquitous plastic contamination, including the landmark discovery of microplastics in human blood.
Within the same month that Plastic Matter appeared, a study published in Environmental International revealed that scientists have found microplastics in human blood for the first time in history. The ubiquity of plastic and its messy human/non-human relations frame this book where author Heather Davis argues that “plastic creates the contemporary world” (11). Plastic generates critical questions of “inheritance” and “intimacy” Davis contends, because whether we want it or not, plastic can now be found in every corner of the earth and is something we all inherit. Plastic Matter asks: What does it mean to have inherited this type of a world, and what does the intergenerational transfer of plastic mean? What might be done with the material inheritances that we would rather not possess? Employing a methodological approach that thinks with and through plastic, Davis links the pervasiveness of plastic to Western conceptions of matter as subject to unlimited...
More Papers Like This
Plastic Matter
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This book-length review traces plastic's relationships to geology, media, biology, and race, arguing that plastic's ubiquity — from the Arctic to Mariana Trench to nanoplastics in human cells — reflects the dominance of Western disposability culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Author Heather Davis contends that understanding plastic as matter reveals how modern society has come to treat materials, environments, and people as pliable and consumable.
The Invisible Threat: Microplastics in Human Blood and Placenta
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This review summarized current evidence on microplastic detection in human blood and placenta, discussing what is known about how these particles enter the bloodstream and reach fetal tissue. The authors highlight the potential implications for maternal and fetal health.
Microplastics Across the Human Body: Occurrence, Detection Methodologies, and Distribution in Human Tissues, Organs, and Biological Fluids
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Tiny plastic particles called microplastics have now been found all over the human body, in blood, urine, breast milk, lungs, and even the placenta, according to this review that pulls together findings from many existing studies. This means plastic pollution isn't just something we encounter outside; it's actually getting inside us and reaching even well-protected areas of our bodies. Scientists still don't know exactly how this happens or what it means for our long-term health, so more research is needed, but the fact that these particles are showing up everywhere is a strong signal worth paying attention to.
Plastics and their additives reached the blood and tissue spaces: what are the possible consequences?
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This review examines how microplastics and their chemical additives reach human blood and tissue spaces and discusses the potential health consequences of this exposure. The authors synthesize evidence on pathways by which microplastics enter biological systems via food chains and direct environmental exposure, and assess the range of health effects being documented in humans and animals, noting the field is still relatively new with serious to very serious impacts being identified.
The Plastic Within: Micro- and Nanoplastics in Human Tissues and the Nutritional Context for Exposure Mitigation
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This narrative review covers detections of micro- and nanoplastics in human blood, lung, placenta, artery plaque, brain, liver and testicular tissue. The strongest human signal is one observational cohort linking plastics in artery plaque to later cardiovascular events (hazard ratio 4.53). Evidence on diet and nutrition in this context is described as limited.
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