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Comment by kareemm | Hacker News Reader

How could it be good? At best it’s probably neutral. But given our ancestors didn’t eat microplastics and our digestive systems evolved from them, I have a hard time imagining we’re able to digest microplastics well.

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There are large economic and social costs incurred when people freak out about something common yet harmless.

True, but there are potentially much larger economic and social costs incurred when people remain oblivious of something that is harmful. Playing it safe is likely worth the cost, even if we pay for a lot of false positives along the way.

The entire point is that it doesn't matter if we eat micro plastics if we don't digest them in a way that matters. In the same way that I don't get iron poisoning by eating an iron bolt because my system can't process it.

The problem arises when your system treats it as something else. For example, how your system treats carbon monoxide like oxygen. Remember, we used to think things like lead-based sugars were fine to eat.

And, fwiw, your body would process a small amount of iron, since it's a mineral required for good health.

I would not advise eating foods containing iron bolts, though. This is what happens with the microplastics, they're everywhere now.

Micro iron bolts would be iron; an essential mineral.

Iron is also a toxin at doses above about 10mg/kg, so, yeah, if “micro iron bolts” were liberally distributed among common foodstuffs, that could be a real problem.

Too much of a lot of things (i.e. water poisoning, or too much vitamin A) are toxic.

Why would you expect to not digest something you put in your digestive tract? You do, after all, digest part of that bolt.

Not everything that passes through the digestive tract is broken down and absorbed. A major portion of the food you eat is indigestible fiber.

If you were eating iron bolts with every salted meal I think you would find that it is not so harmless after all.

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