Microscopic plastics could raise risk of stroke and heart attack, study says

Plastic pollution is ubiquitous, reaching across the entire planet. Photograph: Maxshoto/Alamy

Doctors have warned of potentially life-threatening effects from plastic pollution after finding a substantially raised risk of stroke, heart attack and earlier death in people whose blood vessels were contaminated with microscopic plastics.

Researchers in Naples examined fatty plaques removed from the blood vessels of patients with arterial disease and found that more than half had deposits contaminated with tiny particles of polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride (PVC).