A pioneer survey conducted in Maceió (AL) found microplastics in umbilical lambs of babies born in the capital of Alagoas. This is the first study of the type conducted in Latin America and the second in the world that has been able to prove the presence of these particles in cords. The results were published on Friday (25), in the Journal Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
“The placenta is a big filter, see the amount of things that exist in the world and are harmful, but very few go to the placenta. So when the first studies found the microplastics in the placenta, we thought it was acting like a barrier, only among the participants of our study, 8 in 10 had more particles in the umbilical cord than in the placenta, so they are going to a large amount and they are going to the large amounts Babies even before they are born. And this is a portrait of the end of pregnancy.
The team analyzed samples of ten pregnant women from Professor Alberto Antunes University Hospital and Dr. Nise da Silveira Women’s Hospital in Maceió. They were subjected to the micro-raman spectroscopy technique, capable of identifying the chemical composition of great precision molecules.
Placenta samples had 110 microplastics particles, and 119 were found in umbilical cords. The most present compounds were polyethylene, used in the manufacture of disposable plastic packaging and polyamide, which is part of the composition of synthetic fabrics.
Borbery investigates microplastic contamination during pregnancy since 2021. By 2023, a joint study with researchers at the University of Hawaií in Manoa had already proven the presence of particles in placental samples of Havaian women. The survey also showed that this contamination increased over time, as microplastics were found in 60% of samples collected in 2006, 90% in 2013 and 100% in 2021.
The partnership was maintained for the investigation in Maceió, which also received funding from the Research Support Foundation of the State of Alagoas and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Although all Brazilian samples are contaminated, they had fewer chemical additives associated with plastic polymers than US samples.
“We sought women who were attended by SUS, with a more vulnerable socioeconomic condition, because the vast majority of studies are done in developed countries. So we wanted to bring our reality of our population. And plastics are made up of different polymers that change according to the place,” adds Borly.
As microplastics are even present in the air, it is not possible to accurately determine the source of contamination, but the researcher believes that marine pollution has a great contribution, as the population of Alagoas consumes many fish and seafood, including mollusks filters. Another important point of origin is the potted mineral water, which acquires the particles even faster when the gallons receive sunlight.
The research will now increase the amount of samples harvested to 100 pregnant women and seek correlations between microplastics contamination and complications during pregnancy or health problems identified shortly after the birth of babies. For this, it is implementing the Center for Excellence in Microplastic Research, with funds from the Financier of Studies and Projects – FINEP, Ministry of Science and Technology. The expectation, according to the researcher is that these results are published in 2027:
“The concern of everyone who works in this area today is to try to understand what this contamination is causing, because this is very serious. All this generation that is already born exposed to these plastics inside the womb. And plastic is somehow composing the body of these individuals since formation.”
“An American article that came out this year showed a relationship between a specific polymer found in the placenta and cases of prematurity. We published a study with human cells and tissues showing that polystyrene plastics easily pass through the placental barrier and cause changes in the metabolism of this placenta and in the production of free radicals, which is also an indication that it will affect the development of the baby”, complement Borly.
For the researcher, these discoveries light a collective and political warning, as individual actions are ineffective to avoid contamination: “Brazil does not have a plastic regulation. And the most important here is the action that comes from above, from the government, to regulate the plastic: how this production should be, the disposal of plastics, the implementation of filters in these industries. People, “he explains.
