Microplastics are everywhere. Here’s why that matters to big oil
Microplastics are increasingly found in our body and food supply.
They are defined as plastic parts of 5 millimeters – about a pen eraser size. However, they can be much smaller like the size of a virus particle or a DNA sequence.
Petrochemicals, plastic building blocks, oil and gas are produced. Work is a small but profitable area of the fossil fuel industry and is seen as a threat to any push oil and gas industry for the use of plastic.
Richard Wiles, President of the Center for Climate Honesty, said, “The most vulnerable place in the industry is the exposure to microplastics.” He said. “They will try to tell us that it is good to be exposed to microplastics every day, from birth to death. It’s just great. You just have to eat more. This is not the problem. And I don’t think they can only win this argument.”
Scientific research on microplastics has increased for the last few years. The National Medicine Library Pubmed Veritabanı reported that the level of scientific research on the term “germ” exploration term has increased from 2021 to 2024.
A study published in nature medicine in February found that human brains were 7 grams of plastic from 2024, which was about 50% more plastic than the brains examined from 2016. Scientists who participated in the study, these examples of the highest levels of microplastic levels suggesting that these examples came from the frontal cortex, he said.
“If people think that there is a guard dog who measures and understands such nanoplastics as they arrive, I have not seen any evidence that this happened on a meaningful scale,” Andrew West said, one of the co -writers of Duke University. He said.
Microplastics were also found by scientists in fish muscle tissue and even in the fibers of fruits and vegetables.
“Thanks to advances in monitoring technology, we can now detect incredibly small amounts of substances such as microplastic,” Kimberly White, Vice President of the American Council of Plastic Industry Trade Union, the Union of Plastic Industry Trade Association. He said. “However, finding something at extremely low levels does not mean that it is harmful.
Industrial giants are largely investing in chemical production as the oil demand falls from electrification, Slow down US tariffs and economic growth In China and India. The International Energy Agency, for example, has displaced more than 1 million oil consumption per day in 2024, for example, and that it is expected to rise to 5 million barrels by 2030.
2024 view, BP He said that the use of oil in transportation was balanced with the use of oil for the production of petrochemicals. Although chemical uses contain various products such as detergents and paints, polyethylene plastics are an important part of chemical work.
“Large oil and gas companies play an important role in the supply chain for plastic. And then there are many other companies. [on] The lower flow side who participated in the creation of plastics, Yale said Yale University Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics Kenneth Gillingham. “The surplus of natural gas is caused by frecking and led to low natural gas prices. “
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, approximately 1.5% of natural gas in the US is converted to chemicals used to make plastic and other consumer products.
Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, has increased its activity in the field. In 2020, Petrocochemicals purchased 70% share in SABIC. While the results of the fourth quarter 2024 are lower than expected, Sabic won about $ 35 billion from petrochemicals last year.
“As a society, we are better than having more plastics than plastics, but we are faced with the consequences of having these plastics.” He said.
Watch the video to learn more about how germs have become an important problem for large oil.
