Obviously this is baseless speculation, but I sure do wonder if various psychological conditions that are so diverse and hard to pin down (i.e. 3 out of these 9 symptoms around attention, social behavior, or impulse control) are ultimately just going to be proven to be purely biological. And since genetics can only explain less than half of it, it sure seems that something messing with chemical signaling would be a reasonable explanation for the rest.

"The fact that we were able to detect similar effects of phthalate exposure on the function of central neurons for the low and 10-fold higher environmental concentration tested is important in this context: humans get exposed to phthalates mostly through ingestion and their indoor environment, while fish in this study got exposed to phthalates through the surrounding water. These differences in exposure may mean that humans generally take up fewer phthalates from the environment than the fish in the present study. However, even if fewer phthalates are taken up and reach/cross the BBB in humans, it must be assumed on the basis of our results that the effect could still be similar to that observed in our experiments on goldfish. "

It seems sloppy not to attempt to address the relevance of typical human exposure to the study amounts?

Note: here, vertebrates = goldfishes

How relevant is this for plastic food packaging?

Now, for fun, plot the percentage of people exposed to toxic amounts over a map.

I was thinking of putting a Reverse Osmosis filter in my Kitchen. Would RO water just leach this chemical out then from plastic containers? Since the RO water is pretty pure. All the RO units I've seen are made of plastic.

My dilemma is that a massive car battery plant is being built right next to a local creek. The city water intake is down river. They obviously placed the plant next to a creek for a reason. The creek already smells like sewage because they have a water treatment plant on it. My nose tells me not to trust the quality of their "treating of water", since the creek smells like sewage and has algae blooms.

So was thinking of getting a kitchen RO unit. Currently use a Britta filter.

Reminder that a recent autopsy study found that the average American brain now has about a quarter oz of microplastics in it [0]. That's up 50% from 8 years ago. Phthalate directly in the brain itself.

Microplastic is now found basically everywhere we look, from our own testicles/ovaries and other organs, to wild animals who never heated a ready meal in the microwave in their life. Yet plastic producers show no intention to err on the side of caution when it comes to plasticizing the planet.

Which is a shame, because there are alternatives.

0 - https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/23/health/plastics-in-brain-...