One of the first papers to directly examine the risks of microplastics exposure in humans, published in The New England Journal of Medicine in March 2024, studied patients undergoing surgery to remove plaque from their arteries. More than two years after the procedure, those who had microplastics in their plaque had a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and death than those who didn’t.

By the late 1960s, experts began warning about the dangers of plastic pollution, including islands of debris clogging the oceans.