Placentas road to New York!!
If you are a BISC volunteer you have probably donated your placenta to the study and you may be wondering where it is now or what became of it and we have to tell you that… They are in New York!
The placenta is a very special organ since it is formed from scratch when implantation begins and is completely expelled during childbirth. Since you have given us this opportunity, we are taking advantage of it! The placentas have traveled to New York where they will be analyzed for the presence of nanoplastics.
And what are nanoplastics or why are we interested? Nanoplastics are particles with a size between 0.001 and 0.1 microns produced due to the fragmentation of plastic. They are present in almost all media, water, seafood, farmland, and also in human organs and tissues.
In addition to polluting the environment, nanoplastics pose a risk to marine life and could also be to humans. That is why we will carry out these future analyses.
Thank you very much for being part of the great BISC family!
The text has been written by Zoraida Garcia, lab technician of BiSC project.