Simple Ways to Lower Your Microplastic Exposure | Fox 13 Seattle Interview

Added: 2026-04-29

[00:00:00]Welcome back. 8:13 is your time. The EPA and Department of Health and Human Services is unveiling a new program.

[00:00:08]It's called Stomp to study, measure, and remove microplastics from the human body. It is the first step towards reducing the harm of microplastics on human and environmental health. And here to talk about what this means for you at home is Dr. Joseph Mcola, a boardcertified family medicine physician. Thank you so much, Dr. Joseph, for being here with us today.

[00:00:32]>> Well, thank you for having me, Taylor. I really appreciate it. It's important topic.

[00:00:35]>> It is really important and I was hoping you'd bring us a little bit of clarity because we talk about microplastics all the time, but what exactly are they and how are they getting inside of us?

[00:00:46]>> Great question. Well, they're pervasive.

[00:00:48]Uh they've been around for a long time.

[00:00:50]They we start first started making plastics in 1950. We've made so many.

[00:00:55]How much do you think is on the planet since we made them?

[00:00:59]>> Oh my god.

[00:00:59]>> For every person? Um 1 and a half metric tons. Why? Because they're not like paper or food that degrade. These things last for centuries, for centuries. So that's why they stick around and and when they do, they don't really degrade.

[00:01:16]They just break down. They break down into smaller particles. So the ones that you can physically see is a regular plastic and a microplastic is uh a really tiny plastic that you can't see.

[00:01:26]It's invisible to the human eye. It's microscopic. And then you can it gets even worse because if they continue to break down and this is important, they form even smaller particles which are nanoplastics and those are even invisible to light. You cannot even see them with the best light microscope in the world. So and then the reason this is important, you could say, well, how do we avoid them? That's really an a crucial part of the equation, right? And I'm so glad the federal government did this study to continue the document documenting this important issue. But uh the reason that's important is because you think what what's the most common sources and the answer is going to surprise you.

[00:02:03]Do you think it's would it be plastic bottles or plastic wrap or liners and t aluminum cans? What do you think it is, Taylor? What do I think of I was going to say water bottles and I was going to say like >> that's a really good good answer but surprisingly the answer is something completely different.

[00:02:20]>> It's the air you breathe.

[00:02:22]>> The air.

[00:02:22]>> It's the air you the air you breathe.

[00:02:24]And this is why because these part there's so many remember we have a a million a million and a half metric tons for every person living on the planet.

[00:02:32]And it's going to get worse. When when fleas were first made we made about two million metric tons a year a year. Now we're making 500 million metric tons in about a quarter of a century. is going to be up to a billion metric tons a year.

[00:02:44]>> Okay, Dr. Marcelo, let me ask you something really quick cuz I remember like a study came out a year ago that said we have so much microplastic in our body. We have like the size of a credit card in our brain once it's inside of us. How do we get it out? Can we?

[00:02:59]>> Yes, you can. But conventional therapies don't work. That's why I wrote the book, The Microplastics Cure, which is available now for pre-order on Amazon.

[00:03:10]And uh it's a plant-based material that essentially the book goes into great detail. It's not about this this solution, but I'm saying that because you asked the question. Uh there really are no known strategies. I mean, other than to avoid them that just lessens the damage, but the thing is is you can't not stop breathing. Exercise is really important. And if you're exercising, you breathe more. you're going to get more into your system. So, it's a it's a it's definitely a problem and we're not making any less of it. So, it's continuing to cause problems like infertility, heart disease, cancer. It's been published in some of the biggest journals in the world, most prestigious.

[00:03:44]So, it's a it's a pervasive problem. And uh I I don't know if you're familiar with the uh the plastic detox. That's a common uh pop not popular u documentary on Netflix just was launched by Dr. Shauna Shauna Swan. But it's it's uh this so the the question becomes so this plant-based uh item that can bind to the toxins would help eliminate them from your body and uh we've also developed a test my team and myself that uh actually measures these and and the government's going to be measuring these too and it's really important to document what it is but it's so important to have an objective parameter to assess what your burden of this this these plastics are before and after an intervention so you can know if it's making a difference in your body. But the the reason these the plastics you asked earlier on how they get in your body, they get in your body because they're so small.

[00:04:37]>> Mhm.

[00:04:37]>> A regular plastic, if you if you ate a piece of plastic, it's almost benign and harmless. Unless it had a sharp edge, it would damage your intestine. But it's not going to really harm you because it's the small ones that get into your cells. The big the big particles don't.

[00:04:49]You just excrete them in your stool.

[00:04:51]They have to be under under in the micron ridge and even submicron to do that.

[00:04:56]>> You said it's in the air that we breathe. like there's no way that you can stop breathing. So, how are you supposed to limit your exposure? Or can you?

[00:05:05]>> Well, you should avoid obvious exposures like you wouldn't want to have [laughter] a water bottle in your in your car and let it heat up and then drink that water because there's not only the plastics, but the the chemicals that are made to to to produce plastics are plasticizers and they're they're very dangerous. These are the ones that contri they're hormone and endocrine disruptors and this is what contributes to the infertility problems but also have their own pernicious pro side effects. So you want to avoid that. But that's different from the microplastics.

[00:05:35]And but and the other component of these microplastics when you especially have a large surface area with these mic they're so small they not only have the plastics but they bind other other damaging toxins like heavy metals and uh PAS uh uh the forever chemicals. And interestingly, I for almost forgot to mention that our solution not only binds plastics, but it blinds these other toxins like heavy metals and forever chemicals, which is there other not as I don't think they're as severe. Well, it depends on the exposure, but overall they're probably not as enormous a burden, but they so this this solution actually helps remove all these toxins from your body. But you're right, you can't stop breathing. You're going to there's a persistent and pervasive exposure that is virtually impossible to avoid. And the worst in it in in the larger cities you live in, more densely urban centers uh and especially far from the ocean are going to be more highly polluted. So you want that that would be a simple strategy. And then and then other you know the another common source is the dryers your your gar because your clothes 60% of the clothes that we use are made of plastic and when you do that they they spin off hundreds of thousands millions of particles into the air and into your dryers and into your house.

[00:06:50]That's a pretty uh important contribution to your plastic exposure.

[00:06:56]>> Okay. Well, that makes me feel safe and sound on this Saturday where going to go home do a little laundry. [laughter] Dr. Marcola, thank you so much for being here with us today. We are out of time, but I really appreciate you. Where can we find your book really quick?

[00:07:11]>> You can find my book. It's pre-order on on Amazon and the test I talked about.

[00:07:14]We're going to we have a website, rcola.com. You can sign up for notifications on that and uh because it's it's really an important topic and I think all of us should would uh benefit from paying attention to it.

[00:07:26]>> Okay, mcola.com. Thank you so much, Dr. Marcola.

[00:07:30]>> All right, thanks [music] Taylor. Bye.

[00:07:31]>> Bye. We'll be right back with more Good Day