LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Your next meal at home or in a restaurant might come with an unintended ingredient that could make you sick, they're called microplastics.
Joshua Khorsandi is a first-year medical student at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine. He's focused on raising awareness about these tiny particles and their long-term health effects.
Abel Garcia: What exactly are microplastics?
Joshua Khorsandi: Microplastics are defined as a plastic that is less than five millimeters in length. They are released from a lot of different things—plastic cutting boards, plastic water bottles, plastic utensils, and to-go containers. All of these are sources of microplastic contamination.
Garcia: Why are they harmful when they are inside of your body?
Khorsandi: When you eat food that was exposed to these microplastics, the research shows that they can pass through your intestinal barrier and get into your blood system. Once they are in your blood system, they start accumulating in your organs.
Garcia: What motivated you to spread the word about this?
Khorsandi: When I moved to Las Vegas, I saw that all the restaurants I was eating at were using plastic cutting boards. I pay attention to the small things, and I realized that this is a huge source of microplastic accumulation in our bodies.
That concern has turned into action. Khorsandi is now working with Nevada State Senator Dina Neal on an amendment to Senate Bill 173.
"The amendment under the bill that is being proposed, as I should say, is a ban on plastic cutting boards in restaurants in Nevada and using an alternative,” said Khorsandi. "According to research, the number of people consuming these microplastics is much higher than what it was 30, 40, 50 years ago. Because back then, a lot of the containers and products that they were using were glass. And now we switch from glass bottles such as Coca-Cola bottles to plastic bottles or aluminium bottles that are lined with plastic on the inside."
So, what can you do to protect your family?
"I would tell the people of Southern Nevada to be very health conscious about what they're putting into their bodies, but also the drinks that they're consuming as all of these could be a strong source of microplastics to be ingesting."
Khorsandi has already spoken at city council meetings and the Southern Nevada Health District and continues pushing for change at the state level.