Very quickly, there is about an equal concentration of microplastics in the Great Lakes, where I live, as there are in the ocean garbage patches, so it is very much right where we live. Wherever we are making and using plastics, it is entering our environment, and when we're using plastics, it is entering our bodies. The communities that live closest to production and disposal sites for waste and plastics are feeling the biggest brunt of that. Also, when litter gets into the environment—and it does, as about 1% of all that is made every year ends up as waste litter in the environment—it never goes away. It breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, perhaps, but it does poison ecosystems. It affects animals, and when it's in our bodies, it is definitely having impacts on our bodies.
This is where the research needs to be topped up. We need to figure out exactly what those pathways and impacts are on our health, and figure out how we can stop making that happen.