Marine microplastic pollution is associated with higher rates of several cancers in U.S. coastal counties, according to University of Hawaiʻi research.
The study was senior-authored by Shiwen "Sherlock" Li , assistant professor and Chin Sik and Hyun Sook Chung Endowed Chair in the UH Mānoa Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health's Department of Public Health Sciences .
Researchers examined 89 coastal counties, representing about 54 million people, and compared marine microplastic pollution with cancer rates from 2013 to 2021. Pollution levels were estimated using beach sand and ocean samples collected in each county and available through a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration database.
Counties with higher microplastic pollution tended to have higher rates of digestive, thyroid, prostate, lung and oral and throat cancers.
"It is important to note that these findings are preliminary evidence and require further investigation," Li said. "However, this is one of the earliest human studies to connect microplastics and cancer at the national level and will provide guidance for future research on what to study specifically."
Building on microplastics research
Li said future research should measure micro- and nanoplastics in biological samples such as blood to more directly quantify associations with adverse health outcomes.
The cancer study, " Marine microplastic pollution and cancer incidence from 2013 to 2021 in US coastal counties: an ecological analysis ," was published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. The study's first author is Nicolas E. Gentile of the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and included researchers from UH Mānoa and the UH Cancer Center .
Li is also co-leading a five-year, $3.3 million study that will follow 300 Hawaiʻi families from pregnancy through a baby's first year, measuring exposure to microplastics and PFAS and examining potential effects on early brain development.
The post UH research links marine microplastics to cancer rates first appeared on University of Hawaiʻi System News
