The news has been overwhelming this past month. Much of it you've already forgotten. But I bet most of you will not be able to forget about the plastic spoon in your brain.

Earlier this month, a team of researchers led by scientists at the University of New Mexico published a paper about the apparently increasing amount of microplastics being found in the human body, particularly in the brain. The researchers found that brains from people who died in 2024 contained about 50 percent more microplastics than brains from 2016. The age of the deceased didn't matter.

How much plastic? The 2024 brains averaged around 7 grams, or about the same weight as a plastic spoon. Some caveats: The researchers only studied 52 brains, and while that might seem like a lot of brains, it's relatively few for a scientific study. Also, all 52 brains came from New Mexico. Perhaps New York brains have fewer microplastics, although it seems more likely we have more.

The situation in New York was already pretty bad when I wrote about it for The Current in 2019. But as Shannon Roback of Riverkeeper pointed out, it's hard to say if it's getting worse without more data. Microplastics in the Hudson River have been measured over the years, but never consistently and never in the same places.

That could soon change. Later this year, Riverkeeper will roll out a more robust version of its public monitoring program at more than 200 locations in the river and its tributaries. The organization already tests regularly at over 100 locations for fecal bacteria, temperature, salinity and chlorophyll. The new system will allow it to sample phosphorus and nitrate, as well, and although Riverkeeper itself doesn't have the capacity to test for microplastics, Roback is hoping that the system can be used by state and federal agencies that do.

California is in the process of setting limits on how much microplastics are allowed in drinking water. To calculate those limits, scientists are trying to determine what microplastics do to us. It's known that plastics act as endocrine disruptors, which affect the body's hormonal and reproductive systems. Low sperm count has been linked to microplastics because - I'm so sorry to tell you this so soon after telling you about the plastic spoon - they're in testicles, as well.

Until we have more data on which plastics in our daily lives are making their way to our brains and nether regions, it's hard to know what actions could be most beneficial. Roback said that while municipal water systems filter out most microplastics, using a charcoal-activated filter at home, such as a Brita pitcher, might add an additional layer of defense.

In the meantime, the surest way to reduce the plastics getting into us is to reduce the plastics being made. One bill floating around Albany, the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, would require companies to lower the amount of single-use plastic packaging by 50 percent over the next 12 years, ban the use of 15 so-called "forever chemicals" used to create them and make companies responsible for the costs of disposing of what can't be recycled.

When I spoke to state Sen. Pete Harckham about the bill last year, he was optimistic that it had been revised enough in previous sessions to make it to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk. Although the bill did pass in the Senate, 37-24 (Sen. Rob Rolison, whose district includes the Highlands, voted no), it got lost in the chaotic shuffle of the session's final days when Hochul announced a last-minute pause on congestion pricing.

But momentum appears to be growing. New Jersey has announced its own version of the bill. If both New Jersey and New York pass plastic-reduction legislation in 2025, it could spur national changes. According to Jeremy Cherson of Riverkeeper, the fact that the bill has been kicking around the New York Legislature for years has given global companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi more time to water it down through lobbying and political dona...