Four Ways to Reduce MicroplasticsGetting intoYour Body 四种减少微塑料摄入的方法

塑料为人类带来了很多便利，我们现在早已习惯了用塑料，穿塑料，玩塑料，吃塑料。没错，我们几乎每天都在吃塑料。

Microplastics are “one of the greatest man-made disasters of our time”， according to theNatural History Museum. That's bad news， giventhey are also everywhere; in tap water， the foodyou buy， the clothes you wear and the air youbreathe.

The largest microplastics can be seen by thenaked  eye  and  are  anything  under  half acentimeter in size. But many of them are smallenough to act like specks of dust which we caninadvertently breathe in or eat in food . Thesmallest particles are called nanoplastics andthey are small enough to get their way deep intothe human body.

Although research is in its infancy ， therisks of these plastics could be serious—somestudies have linked high exposure to cancer riskand disrupting our hormones. In animal studies，the  particles  have  been  shown  to  affectmetabolism，  gut  bacteria  and the  immunesystem， among other things.

As  microplastics  are  everywhere，  it'simpossible for us to stop using plastics， but wecan still take steps to reduce microplasticsgetting into your body.

伦敦自然历史博物馆认为，微塑料是“这个时代最大的人造灾难之一”。这是个坏消息，因为微塑料无处不在；它们存在于自来水、你买的食物、你穿的衣服和你呼吸的空气中。

最大的微塑料肉眼可见，大小不足0.5厘米。但许多微塑料都很小，小到像灰尘一样可以在不经意间被我们吸入或和食物一起吃下去。最小的塑料颗粒被称为纳米塑料，它们小到可以深入人体。

尽管研究还处于起步阶段，但微塑料的危害可能很大——一些研究表明，微塑料与高患癌风险和扰乱人体激素有关。在动物研究中，微塑料已被证明会影响新陈代谢、肠道细菌和免疫系统等。

由于微塑料几乎无处不在，不使用塑料是不可能的，但我们仍然可以采取一些措施来尽量减少微塑料的摄入。

Word Study

speck /spek/ n. 小点；微粒

infancy /'ɪnfənsi/ n. 初期；初创期

decant /dɪ'kænt/ v. 倒入

imbibe /ɪm'baɪb/ v. 喝；饮

They were used to imbibing quantities of alcohol.

Avoiding using cling film on hot food

避免在热食物上包裹保鲜膜

Cling film is bad. Never microwave it or put it on hot food.

保鲜膜不健康。千万不要用微波炉加热保鲜膜或将保鲜膜放在热的食物上。

Using metal or glass coffee cups

使用金属或玻璃咖啡杯

The heat of the coffee will encourage the plastic toleach into your drink. So you can bring a reusable metalor glass cup for takeaway or consider drinking yourcoffee in a cafe.

咖啡的热度会让塑料渗入你的饮料中。所以需打包咖啡时，你可以带一个可重复使用的金属杯或玻璃杯，或者考虑在咖啡馆喝咖啡。

Avoiding reheating takeaway food in plastic boxes

避免将外卖装在塑料盒中重新加热

Any time plastic containers are heated， chemical changes in the material mean it can leach microparticles into your food. If you can't avoid the takeaway boxes， try not to reheat food in them when having leftovers. Instead， decant them to a plate.

每当塑料容器被加热时，材料发生的化学变化意味着会有微粒子渗入到食物中。如果你无法避免使用外卖盒，那么吃剩下的外卖时尽量不要用外卖盒加热，而应该把它们倒进盘子里加热。

Using a glass water bottle instead of a plastic one

用玻璃水瓶代替塑料水瓶

A Canadian research found that bottled water contains 22 times more microplastics than tap water， meaning someone who exclusively drinks bottled water would imbibe 130，000 more particles a year， compared to about 4，000 from tap water.

Using a glass bottle when you're on the go， and filling it with water that has gone through a reverse osmosis filter， which can help to remove the microplastics in tap water.

加拿大的一項研究发现，瓶装水中的微塑料含量是自来水的22倍，这意味着只饮用瓶装水的人每年会喝下超过13万个微塑料粒子，而饮用自来水的人喝下的微塑料粒子数量约为4000个。

外出时携带玻璃瓶，并装入经过反渗透过滤器的水，这有助于去除自来水中的微塑料。