<h2 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper">What's happening?</h2>

Laura is eating her lunch. She has a potato salad she made a home, some vegetables she bought from the supermarket and a bottle of water. Yum!

Laura does not know that she is also eating plastic. It comes from the water bottle, the packaging of her roasted vegetables and the box she carried her salad in. The plastic even comes from the board she chopped her potatoes on.

The pieces of plastic that Laura is eating are very small. Some are microplastics: pieces of plastic under five millimetres long. But there are also nanoplastics, which are too small to see. Together, they are known as MNPs.

Scientists already knew that they could enter the body and move around it. Now, they have found out that plastics can also enter the brain.

More than half of all the plastic made each year is used to transport food and drink. But after a while it breaks into MNPs - particularly if it is heated up.

ExpertsSomeone who knows a lot about a particular subject. think that someone who drinks from plastic bottles often takes in over 90,000 MNPs a year.

A study of fish showed that ones who had lots of MNPs in their bodies grew less and had fewer babies.

For now, we do not know what eating MNPs might do to humans. But doctors worry they could harm people's hearts, lungs and gutThe tube food passes through when it leaves the stomach. .

<h2 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper">Find out more</h2>

Scientists say we should try to drink from glass or steelA strong metal that is made up of a mixture of iron and carbon. water bottles instead of plastic. They also suggest wearing clothes made out of natural materials like wool or cottonA soft, white substance that grows as part of the cotton plant and can be made into fabric. .

Yes! We cannot escape the tiny pieces of plastic. They are everywhere. It cannot be good for us to have plastic in our bodies.

No! We should not worry about this until we know more. There are lots of things in the world that are bad for us, but we find ways to deal with them.

Experts - Someone who knows a lot about a particular subject.

Gut - The tube food passes through when it leaves the stomach.

Steel - A strong metal that is made up of a mixture of iron and carbon.

Cotton - A soft, white substance that grows as part of the cotton plant and can be made into fabric.