How Unseen Began
Author: John M.
What inspired you to start this blog?
I never really thought much about plastics or forever chemicals until 2024 when I read a study in the New England Journal of Medicine about patients with carotid artery atheromas (which causes narrowing of the artery). Patients with plastics in their atheromas had more strokes, heart attacks, and deaths than patients who didn’t have plastic in their atheromas. To me, this was a lightbulb moment - these invisible substances can have a profound effect on our health!
What worries you most about exposure to plastics and forever chemicals?
The risk of cumulative lifetime accumulation of these substances in children is one of the greatest worries I have. Studies of plastic amounts in humans show rapid rises in levels with time. My wife (who is also a physician and has a public health background) is particularly interested in developing educational materials about this topic for children, and together we have included the next generation of our own family, including our son and our nephew to help create content for children to learn and be inspired to take action.
What are your goals for the blog?
Educate the public about plastics and forever chemicals and their effect on health
Motivate and educate about ways to reduce exposure
Support companies and technologies that create products without these substances
Learning about all this stuff can be quite scary - is this blog meant to scare people into action?
Not at all. The goal for this blog is risk reduction, not risk avoidance. Hopefully, we can draw attention to this growing health problem and educate people about risk, so that everyone can make their own decisions and decide how much risk to tolerate. This is similar to other behaviors with known risks: diet, smoking, drinking, driving fast, etc.
Plastics are abundant in modern society. Any specific areas of exposure or effect that are of particular interest to you?
As an anesthesiologist, I am most interested in the profound plastic exposure that patients absorb in the operating room. This is both intravenous (from fluids and medications stored in plastic containers and then delivered via plastic tubing to plastic catheters in the bloodstream) and inhalational (from plastic breathing tubes).
So are you anti-plastics and anti-forever chemicals?
No - I recognize that these materials have many advantages, particularly in modern medicine, which has led to their widespread usage. My goal is to increase knowledge about them, learn about their effects on health, and look for ways to reduce exposure and create alternatives that are safer.
