So people kind of knew asbestos was harmful wayyy before it mostly stopped being used in 1979 (USA). But, it was still used constantly in many industries and ended up everywhere. What do you think is an example of something we find out is DRASTICALLY harmful 10-50 years from now? My guess would be screen time.
I legitimately think it’ll be what kills humans off.
We can survive climate change, albeit at a greatly reduced population, but microplastics are already impacting fertility rates.
Nah, we’ll adapt. There are already bacteria that can break down and eat plastic. At some point, someone will have a genetic mutation in their gut bacteria that also causes it to breakdown and consume plastic and then the probiotic industry will be tripping all over itself to patent and sell it to us.
Are fertility rates really a problem caused by microplastics? There are people who want to have kids who can’t, but the ones who are young are a small percentage of people.
The two things with the most overwhelming influence on fertility rates is the willingness of people to have children and their access to birth control.
It’s not something that’s been extensively studied in humans, but it does cause reproductive harm in animal models.