Scientific rigour and the dangers of microplastics | Letters

Joe Yates, Prof Philip J Landrigan, Prof Jennifer Kirwan and Prof Jamie Davies respond to an article on doubts raised about studies on microplastics in the human body

While it may be a belated Christmas present for the petrochemical industry, your article (‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body, 13 January) was less surprising to the scientific community, where constructive debate around microplastic detection in humans has been ongoing for some time. Such debate is entirely normal – and essential – for scientific inquiry.

New and novel methods must be tried, tested, critiqued, improved and tried again. Science is incremental and gradual – unlike the uncapped production and pollution of plastics, which contain thousands of hazardous chemicals. Decades of robust evidence demonstrates the harms that these inflict on people and planet.