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Family members of a Los Angeles woman who died after getting a discount 'mommy makeover' in Mexico have warned of the danger of plastic surgery. Tan'Quasha Williams, 30, was tempted by images advertising perfectly enhanced bodies at cheap prices and decided to fly to Matamoros, Mexico, to undergo the plastic surgery procedure. Williams, of Torrance, California, saved up $4000 for the 'mommy makeover', which includes a breast lift and tummy flattening - a bargain price compared to the the $25,000 it would cost in the United States. Plastic surgeon Dr. Orlando Villanueva was pictured with Williams on February 10, 2024,...

We breathe, eat and drink tiny particles of plastic. But are these minuscule specks in the body harmless, dangerous or somewhere in between? A small study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine raises more questions than it answers about how these bits—microplastics and the smaller nanoplastics—might affect the heart. The study involved 257 people who had surgery to clear blocked blood vessels in their necks. Italian researchers analyzed the fatty buildup that the surgeons removed from the carotid arteries, which supply blood and oxygen to the brain. Using two methods, they found evidence of plastics—mostly invisible nanoplastics—in...

Plastic has been found everywhere scientists have looked: From the deepest oceanic trenches to the highest alpine peaks. Petroleum-based plastics do not biodegrade.

Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times following the state’s implementation of a strict ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, a study found. "Following New Jersey’s ban of single-use bags, the shift from plastic film to alternative bags resulted in a nearly 3x increase in plastic consumption for bags," Freedonia Custom Research (FCR), a business research division for MarketResearch.com, reported in a study published this month. New Jersey implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags in 2022, the strictest ban on bags in the nation at the time, billing it as an effort to cut back on...

Many of the foods consumed by Americans are contaminated with harmful plastic chemicals that contribute to health complications like diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and infertility, said a recent report by the nonprofit group Consumer Reports (CR).Bottles of Coca-Cola at a supermarket of Swiss retailer Denner, as the spread of the COVID-19 disease continues, in Glattbrugg, Switzerland, on June 26, 2020. (Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)CR tested 85 food items from 11 categories—beverages, canned beans, condiments, dairy, fast food, grains, infant food, meat and poultry, packaged fruits and vegetables, prepared meals, and seafood, according to the Jan. 4 report. Researchers examined the presence of plasticizers—a...

A new study has found that the overwhelming majority of protein foods such as meat and fish are contaminated with microplastics. The comprehensive study, conducted by researchers at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, found that approximately 88% of protein samples tested contained microplastic particles. "Highly processed products contained the most microplastics per gram," the study said in its findings.

New research finds that nearly 90% of proteins — yes, even vegan alternatives — tested by researchers contain microplastics, which have been linked to negative health consequences. Sixteen types of protein sources — including chicken, beef, seafood, pork, tofu and three plant-based alternatives — were analyzed for microplastics in a study published Monday in the journal Environmental Pollution. The samples were purchased in April 2022 from two supermarkets and one grocer in the Portland, Oregon, area — according to the product packaging, they were produced in the US. The researchers, from Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto, found that...

Washington (AFP) – Bottled water is up to a hundred times worse than previously thought when it comes to the number of tiny plastic bits it contains, a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said Monday. Using a recently invented technique, scientists counted on average 240,000 detectable fragments of plastic per liter of water in popular brands -- between 10-100 times higher than prior estimates -- raising potential health concerns that require further study. "If people are concerned about nanoplastics in bottled water, it's reasonable to consider alternatives like tap water," Beizhan Yan, an associate...

NEW YORK (WKBW) — New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against PepsiCo Inc. James announced the lawsuit Wednesday at Canalside alongside state and local leaders. The lawsuit alleges that hundreds of PepsiCo products have been found along the Buffalo River and caused public harm in Buffalo. "And at the end of the day people that produce things have a responsibility for the things that they produce and this announcement demonstrates that no corporation how big or small how powerful or wealthy they may be in above the law," Assemblymember Jon Rivera said. In addition, the lawsuit...

A young award-winning County Cork inventor says the only way climate change can be tackled is if more people are inspired through education to care about the environment and are encouraged to come up with creative solutions. A Google Global Grand Prize winner and more recently a recipient of a European Inventors Award, Fionn Ferreira, a chemistry masters student from Ballydehob in west Cork, recently patented his novel method of removing microplastic particles from water. According to the United Nations, there are more than 51 trillion microplastic particles in the seas, 500 times more than the number of stars in...

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) Confronts Anti-Plastics Witness About All The Things She Has Containing Plastic

Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez have gotten engaged four years after going public with their relationship, according to multiple reports citing unnamed sources who say they are familiar with the matter. On Monday, TMZ, Page Six, CNN, People, and the Daily Mail, all reported that Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, a former news anchor, are now engaged. Bezos, who is currently the third-richest man in the world, went public with Sanchez in 2019, shortly after he and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott said they were getting a divorce after 25 years of marriage. Sanchez is currently the...

A tractor-trailer caught fire in Richmond, Indiana, and spread to a plastics facility More than 2,000 people within a half-mile radius were asked to evacuate A huge plume of toxic black smoke was visible from more than 20 miles away An enormous inferno at a plastic manufacturing facility in Indiana sent a huge plume of toxic black smoke into the sky as more than 2,000 residents were ordered to evacuate their homes. The blaze, which is expected to keep burning for days, was caused by a tractor-trailer truck that caught fire, which in turn set alight a nearby building that...

Researchers first had to address the very issue that makes superglue so “super” – it sticks to just about everything. Researchers discovered a way to turn superglue into strong, clear plastic that can be made into many shapes. (Allison Christy / CC BY-ND) Our team used superglue as a starting material to develop a low-cost, recyclable and easily produced transparent plastic called polyethyl cyanoacrylate that has properties similar to those of plastics used for single-use products like cutlery, cups and packaging. Unlike most traditional plastics, this new plastic can be easily converted back to its starting materials, even when combined...

U.S. taxpayers will be on the hook for $30 million in new cooperative grant funding to reduce plastic pollution in India, according to a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) posted by the United States Agency for International Development MIssion in India. "The purpose of the activity is to reduce plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, through improvements in solid waste management and advancing a plastics circular economy in selected regions of India," according to the posted synopsis for the program, Innovations for Reducing Plastics for a Cleaner Environment in India (inREPLACE). Under the terms of the grant's cooperative agreement...

Shell Chemicals’ new cracker plant in Beaver County has exceeded its air permit limits for two months in a row, prompting a notice of violation from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The petrochemical plant near Monaca was officially pronounced to be in commercial operations last month, but start up activities began months earlier. In September, the facility had by far its worst air quality month, releasing 492 tons of volatile organic compounds from its high-pressure flare, according to data submitted to the DEP by Shell. The emissions ate up 95% of the annual limit included in Shell’s air permit....

It turns out that efforts to recycle plastic are a waste of time and energy. The environmental advocacy group Greenpeace issued a report showing that "mechanical and chemical recycling of plastic waste has largely failed and will always fail because plastic waste is: (1) extremely difficult to collect, (2) virtually impossible to sort for recycling, (3) environmentally harmful to reprocess, (4) often made of and contaminated by toxic materials, and (5) not economical to recycle." Lisa Ramsden, a senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace USA and one of the authors of the report, said "most plastic is not being recycled in...

Even Greenpeace has finally acknowledged the truth: Recycling plastic makes no sense. This has been obvious for decades to anyone who crunched the numbers, but the fantasy of recycling plastic proved irresistible to generations of environmentalists and politicians. They preached it to children, mandated it for adults and bludgeoned municipalities and virtue-signaling corporations into wasting vast sums — probably hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide — on an enterprise that has been harmful to the environment as well as to humanity. Now Greenpeace has seen the light or at least a glimmer of rationality. The group has issued a report...

Even Greenpeace now admits the obvious: recycling doesn’t work ... Even Greenpeace has finally acknowledged the truth: recycling plastic makes no sense. This has been obvious for decades to anyone who crunched the numbers, but the fantasy of recycling plastic proved irresistible to generations of environmentalists and politicians. They preached it to children, mandated it for adults, and bludgeoned municipalities and virtue-signaling corporations into wasting vast sums—probably hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide—on an enterprise that has been harmful to the environment as well as to humanity. Now Greenpeace has seen the light, or at least a glimmer of rationality....

Plastic produce bags will soon be a thing of the past for California grocery shoppers. The state will effectively ban plastic produce bags from supermarkets after a new bill, SB 1046, was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 30 Alternatively, stores must replace the bags with either paper bags or compostable bags, according to the bill. California will be the first state in the nation to outlaw the produce bags after banning single-use checkout bags from supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores back in 2016. The ban will take effect starting January 1, 2025.