'Plastic is bad' is indeed a gross generalization as plastics are made from a wide variety of monomeric units that are linked into chains or sheets to generate the final product. This article is specifically about polystyrene, which consists of aromatic (benzene ring) monomers. These are more likely to have biological effects, although of course there are aromatic amino acids, but there's also bisphenol A, a problematic additive. However, the specific evidence is worth looking at:
> "Researchers said the plastic[polystyrene]-protein accumulations happened across three different models performed in the study - in test tubes, cultured neurons, and mouse models of Parkinson’s disease. West said questions remain about how such interactions might be happening within humans and whether the type of plastic might play a role."
Another thing to keep in mind is that Parkinson's appears to have a whole lot of different causes or risk factors, which accumulate as we age, from genetics to exposure to organophosphorous pesticides and this is just one more added to the list (wiki):
> "PD is believed to begin principally by degeneration of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons in the brain and secondarily by complex pathological mechanisms, including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, apoptotic cell death, protein aggregation and misfolding, inflammation, excitotoxicity, loss of trophic factors, and other cell-death pathways"
So, it's not about 'plastics' in general, it's just that there are specific types and additives that should probably be phased out.
> "Researchers said the plastic[polystyrene]-protein accumulations happened across three different models performed in the study - in test tubes, cultured neurons, and mouse models of Parkinson’s disease. West said questions remain about how such interactions might be happening within humans and whether the type of plastic might play a role."
Another thing to keep in mind is that Parkinson's appears to have a whole lot of different causes or risk factors, which accumulate as we age, from genetics to exposure to organophosphorous pesticides and this is just one more added to the list (wiki):
> "PD is believed to begin principally by degeneration of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons in the brain and secondarily by complex pathological mechanisms, including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, apoptotic cell death, protein aggregation and misfolding, inflammation, excitotoxicity, loss of trophic factors, and other cell-death pathways"
So, it's not about 'plastics' in general, it's just that there are specific types and additives that should probably be phased out.