The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health unveiled a $144 million initiative April 2 to study and address the effects of microplastics on human health.
The Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics, or STOMP, program will involve two phases. In phase 1, researchers will study how microplastics accumulate in the human body and develop a gold-standard approach for measuring their presence. A clinical test will also be created to quantify an individual’s microplastic burden, allowing for better monitoring and intervention at scale, according to an April 2 news release.
In the second phase, researchers will explore safe and effective mechanisms to remove microplastics from the body.
“Microplastics are in every organ we look at — in ourselves and in our children. But we don’t know which ones are harmful or how to remove them,” ARPA-H Director Alicia Jackson, PhD, said in the release. “Nobody wants unknown particles accumulating in their body. The field is working in the dark. STOMP is turning on the lights.”
The program was announced the same day the Environmental Protection Agency said it was adding microplastics to its proposed list of known drinking water contaminants. The agency is required to update its contaminant list every five years, which local regulators use to assess risks in their water supply, according to NPR.
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