Microplastic pollution has inundated our world, creating a public health crisis on an incomprehensible scale. Despite this, the federal government has failed to take serious action. Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a symbolic move toward regulating microplastics by putting them on its draft Sixth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). This is an encouraging sign — but it’s far from what we need to get out of this microplastics mess.

Scientists estimate we ingest around a credit card’s worth of microplastics every week. And new research confirms microplastics are wreaking real havoc in our bodies, thanks to the myriad chemicals in the plastic we use every day.

How have they gotten into our bodies? One major route is the water we drink. One recent study estimated that we consume around 4,000 microplastic particles annually through drinking water, and the researchers believe this is an underestimate. 

Given the scope and scale of this threat to our health, the EPA can’t stop at simply putting microplastics on the CCL. It must mandate the monitoring of microplastics in our drinking water as a meaningful step toward real protections.

The Problem: Microplastics Are Making Us Sick

The plastic that surrounds us — in our packaging, in our technology, in our clothes — is made with thousands of toxic chemicals, including byproducts from dirty fracking, cancer-causing PCBs, and PFAS “forever chemicals.” As plastic degrades, these chemicals get released into the environment.

Increasingly, researchers are finding microplastics in many of our organs, including our brains. A recent study looking at human brain samples found that concentrations of micro- and nanoplastics (even smaller bits of plastic) are increasing dramatically. The study also suggested that we may currently have a plastic spoon’s worth of plastic accumulated in our brains.

In our digestive system, exposure to micro- or nanoplastics is linked to microbial imbalances and inflammation. More research highlights the relationship between gut health and the health of other body systems, including our liver, kidneys, hearts, and neurological systems.

Microplastics exposure can also induce abnormal heart rates and an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Research shows that microplastics can even penetrate and damage lung tissue.

In children, an especially vulnerable population due to their growing bodies, higher exposure to microplastics has been correlated to hay fever, memory issues, and inattentiveness. In older adults, microplastics exposure has been linked to dementia.

The Solution: Require Monitoring to Inform Regulation of Microplastics

By adding microplastics to its draft Sixth Contaminant Candidate List, the EPA took an encouraging but inadequate step forward in addressing the crisis of microplastics in our drinking water. 

The list is for contaminants that are “known or anticipated to occur” in our public water systems, and the law requires the EPA to “select contaminants that present the greatest public health concern.” It’s a signal that the EPA may consider regulating microplastics in the future, and it’s an acknowledgment of their possible health risks. 

However, right now, the agency has an opportunity to take stronger action and require monitoring of microplastics in our drinking water. This is an essential and meaningful step toward real protections. Without a comprehensive understanding of the scale of the problem, we’ll be fighting in the dark.

In 2024, Food & Water Watch filed a petition to the EPA demanding that it start monitoring for microplastics in our drinking water by adding microplastics to a rule issued every five years called the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR). 

We also found a little-known provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act that says if seven state governors submit a similar petition, the EPA must add microplastics to the UCMR or explain why it can’t due to the need to monitor for more concerning contaminants. 

The efforts of our members and volunteers successfully drove seven state governors to submit their petition. We raised the profile of this issue in national politics, and the EPA adding microplastics to the CCL is a sign of our power. However, we know the CCL is not enough. It doesn’t mandate monitoring.

The EPA Must Monitor Microplastics!

The opportunity to get microplastics on the UCMR only comes every five years. Given all we know about microplastics so far, we can’t afford to wait five years for the next round. 

Ultimately, plastic is harmful to our bodies and the environment at every step in its lifecycle. The extractive system of plastic production and disposal (usually incineration) inundates communities with toxic pollution, disproportionately in low-income and non-white communities in the U.S. and countries around the globe. We must cut microplastics off at the source by moving away from fossil-fueled plastics altogether. 

At the same time, our leaders can’t hesitate to take a meaningful step forward. The EPA must mandate public water systems to test for microplastics now. Our water and health depend on it.