2 . Microplastics, or tiny plastic particles - have been found in human blood for the first time.

In a paper published in Environment International, researchers in the Netherlands analyzed 22 blood samples from healthy donors and found that 17 or almost 80% contain microplastics.

The team tested for five types of plastics. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), commonly used in disposable water bottles, was the most common plastic type and found in about 50 percent of the donors. The second most common, polystyrene (PS) which is used for food packaging, was found in about 36 percent. Alarmingly, the researchers found up to three different types of plastic in a single blood sample.

Previously, microplastic pollution has been recorded to the summit of Mount Everest, oceans, seafood, water and air. It is the first study to find such tiny particles in human blood. “The particles are transported throughout the body and stay in internal organs,” study author Dick Vethaak, an ecotoxicologist in the Netherlands says to the Guardian.

The health effects of taking in microplastics are currently unclear. Today, the only data available are laboratory studies that show its unfavorable effects on mice or rats when given large quantities of microplastics. As Professor Mark Taylor of Macquarie University in Sydney told The Guardian last year, “nobody really knows.” However, as he stressed., “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” If we’re to understand the effects, the first step underway at the moment is understanding levels of exposure.

It is estimated that since the 1950s, more than 70 million tons of microplastics have been dumped into the oceans due to industrial manufacturing processes. A WWF report also suggested we’re all unintentionally taking in 125 grams of plastic every 6 months. Despite the small number of donors in the study, pollution expert Fay Couceiro of the University of Portsmouth, who was not involved in the study, tells the AFP that the study was “solid and will stand up to examination.” Now, many countries are taking action to reduce microplastics in the environment.

4 . The causes and effects of plastic pollution are truly everywhere.

Several million tons of rubbish end up in the world’s ocean every year, and much of it is improperly dropped plastic litter.

In the ocean, plastic pollution can kill the ocean animals directly through entanglement (缠住) in objects, and it can also kill them because of being mistaken for food. Studies have found that all kinds of species, both small and large, easily take plastic bits. Sunlight and seawater crack plastic, and the final breakdown of larger objects into microplastic makes plastic available to the small ocean animals. Such small pieces of plastic, which are less than 5 mm in length, make up a sizable part of plastic waste in the ocean by the movement of deep-sea currents (水流), which is creating microplastic “hot spots” in parts of the ocean.

There is also plastic pollution on land. Drainage systems become blocked with plastic bags and other items. Land birds have been found with plastic in their stomachs, and animals that normally feed in dumps—for example, the sacred cows of India—have had intestinal (肠的) blockages from plastic packaging. In addition, wind-transported microplastic has been found in many parts of the world, including the snow on high mountains, on Aretic beaches, sea ice and in Antarctica.

Given the global scale of plastic pollution, using more money on removing plastic items from the environment would not be considered. Most solutions to the problem of plastic pollution, therefore, focus on preventing improper disposal (处理) or even on limiting the use of certain plastic items in the first place. Fines for littering have proved difficult to be carried out, but various fees on plastic shopping bags are common, as is exchanging for new things by taking bottles to recycling centers. Awareness of the serious results of plastic pollution is increasing, and new solutions, including the increasing use of biodegradable plastics and a “zero waste” idea, are being accepted by governments and the public.

Breathing dirty air causes the premature death of at least 1,200 children across Europe each year. Actually, many thousands more     1     (trouble) with physical and mental health problems that could have lifelong impacts.

    2     it comes to air pollution, we can’t think of children     3     little adults. They receive more pollution, and it starts in the womb (子宫) and continues in kindergarten and onwards.

Children are more exposed to dirty air than adults because they have a     4     (fast) breathing rate, are closer to the ground and are outdoors more. They are particularly     5     (sense) to dirty air, and pollutants can have a permanent impact on their development. The impacts begin before birth,     6     contributes to low birth weight and premature birth.

Reducing the     7     (source) of air pollution, including road traffic, coal and solid fuel burning, and industrial emissions (排放物), is key. Action should also be taken     8     (reduce) the specific risks to children. These could include putting clean air zones around schools, where traffic would     9     (restrict) and idling engines (怠速运转) prohibited. Local authorities and schools should also consider     10     (plant) trees, ivy screens and hedge fences around playgrounds.

9 . A strong sense of smell is a key component of a healthy and enjoyable life. Yet our sense of smell is in decline as a result of an unnoticed threat to our health: air pollution.

Scientists are finding that anosmia, a loss of the sense of smell, is becoming a widespread problem among people of all ages exposed to PM2. 5 pollutants constantly, which are tiny particles (微粒) that can enter our bodies with every breath we take.

The reason, they suggest, is that the olfactory bulbs (嗅球), which are located in our noses and packed with nerve endings, are affected by exposure to air pollution. The tiny particles cause illness either in the bulbs themselves or in the brain, impacting our sense of smell over time, “Our data show the risk of developing anosmia with constant particulate pollution is 1.6 to 1.7 times higher,” says Ramanathan, a doctor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, America.

Ramanathan is an author of a recent study of nearly 2,700 patients, a fifth of whom had anosmia despite many of them being non- smokers.’ When he and his colleagues looked into the backgrounds of the affected patients, they found most of them lived in neighborhoods with significantly higher levels of air pollution.

The findings prove other studies with similar findings. One of these studies, conducted in a town in Italy, found that more than 200 teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25 suffered olfactory damage as a result of exposure to NO₂, a common component in traf-fic emissions. “This is alarming as olfactory loss affects patient safety, well-being, and it is a predictor of poor health,” says Ramanathan.

Yet the loss of a sense of smell is a condition that is often overlooked though it can bring about numerous health problems. A sense of smell is linked to memory as well and life is a lot less fun without it. “People don’t remember what the pastry that they ate in childhood looked like, but they remember what the shop smelled like,” says Ramanathan.