When I was at school in the 1960s, we looked at the "ages of mankind". The Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, the last of which some bright class member raised with the teacher: "Are we still in the Iron Age today?" "Yes, technically," was the reply, "But I would say rather that we are today in the Plastic Age." It'd be about 1969, and the perspicacity for that time is astonishing when we now look back. It was an age when groceries were packaged in paper and cardboard, when milk bottles were returned, washed and refilled, and when petrol had lead in it: a conscious decision to poison the world in order to make car engines run smoothly. Shortly thereafter, 3M developed its Teflon coatings, researched their poisonous potential, discovered that potential, and smothered its research.
Meanwhile, we kids amused ourselves playing Cluedo: in that time, whoever did it in the Ballroom with the lead piping had a real piece of lead piping as their token in the game. One wonders whether all the furore about class A drugs is even worth the effort, given the facility and ease with which man has for centuries poisoned his children with everyday objects.
Such a terrific article, thank you! Yes, the petrochemical industry decided years ago to slap "recyclable" symbols on their products. They thereby declared, "tag, you're it," completely shoving the responsibility for disposal of their nonbiodegradeable products onto governments and consumers. They continue to blather on about improving recycling (but not their job) and continue to increase production of virgin plastic (which often uses byproducts of fracking). Trump/MAGA attacks on any and all environmental regulations are making this worse. Of course. Time for regular people and sane normal government to be back in charge! Again, appreciate the article, there is so much coming at us important issues like this are not getting enough attention.
Given how completely dependent our global civilization is on plastic and how thoroughly immersed we are in micro- and nanoplastics in our environment, it is an interesting question as to how long we will be stuck in the "Plasticeous Epoch."
I wrote about micro- and nanoplastics this week, too, in case folks are interested:
When you blame the plastic industry, they deserve it: DuPont discovered Teflon in 1938. DuPont, 3M and other PFAS makers knew in the 1940s, well before the plastics explosion that began in the 1950s and 60s, that PFAS chemicals were unhealthy for humans. They hid that information until they were forced to reveal it in court.
I would like to feel that your great lead analogy offers a little hope. 100% of Americans had lead in their blood in the 1970s. With government deleading of gas and paint, that went down to 4% of Americans with high blood lead levels in the 90s, twenty years later!
But lead has a half-life of a month in the blood and not much longer in soft tissue like the brain where it does its harm. Unlike what was accomplished with lead reduction, we are not going to see reduced environmental exposure to microplastics in the near future.
When I was at school in the 1960s, we looked at the "ages of mankind". The Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, the last of which some bright class member raised with the teacher: "Are we still in the Iron Age today?" "Yes, technically," was the reply, "But I would say rather that we are today in the Plastic Age." It'd be about 1969, and the perspicacity for that time is astonishing when we now look back. It was an age when groceries were packaged in paper and cardboard, when milk bottles were returned, washed and refilled, and when petrol had lead in it: a conscious decision to poison the world in order to make car engines run smoothly. Shortly thereafter, 3M developed its Teflon coatings, researched their poisonous potential, discovered that potential, and smothered its research.
Meanwhile, we kids amused ourselves playing Cluedo: in that time, whoever did it in the Ballroom with the lead piping had a real piece of lead piping as their token in the game. One wonders whether all the furore about class A drugs is even worth the effort, given the facility and ease with which man has for centuries poisoned his children with everyday objects.
Such a terrific article, thank you! Yes, the petrochemical industry decided years ago to slap "recyclable" symbols on their products. They thereby declared, "tag, you're it," completely shoving the responsibility for disposal of their nonbiodegradeable products onto governments and consumers. They continue to blather on about improving recycling (but not their job) and continue to increase production of virgin plastic (which often uses byproducts of fracking). Trump/MAGA attacks on any and all environmental regulations are making this worse. Of course. Time for regular people and sane normal government to be back in charge! Again, appreciate the article, there is so much coming at us important issues like this are not getting enough attention.
Wonderful piece, Marcus! Thank you.
Given how completely dependent our global civilization is on plastic and how thoroughly immersed we are in micro- and nanoplastics in our environment, it is an interesting question as to how long we will be stuck in the "Plasticeous Epoch."
I wrote about micro- and nanoplastics this week, too, in case folks are interested:
https://eatinginamerica.substack.com/p/the-macro-problem-of-microplastics.
When you blame the plastic industry, they deserve it: DuPont discovered Teflon in 1938. DuPont, 3M and other PFAS makers knew in the 1940s, well before the plastics explosion that began in the 1950s and 60s, that PFAS chemicals were unhealthy for humans. They hid that information until they were forced to reveal it in court.
I would like to feel that your great lead analogy offers a little hope. 100% of Americans had lead in their blood in the 1970s. With government deleading of gas and paint, that went down to 4% of Americans with high blood lead levels in the 90s, twenty years later!
But lead has a half-life of a month in the blood and not much longer in soft tissue like the brain where it does its harm. Unlike what was accomplished with lead reduction, we are not going to see reduced environmental exposure to microplastics in the near future.