![\"Spreading](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/976x549\/p0dsv5nf.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA report by the UK’s Environment Agency, which was subsequently revealed by the environmental campaign group Greenpeace, found that sewage waste destined for English farmland was contaminated with pollutants<\/a> including dioxins<\/a>and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at \u00ablevels that may present a risk to human health\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2020 experiment by Kansas University agronomist Mary Beth Kirkham found that plastic serves as a vector for plant uptake of toxic chemicals<\/a> such as cadmium. \u00abIn the plants where cadmium was in the soil with plastic, the wheat leaves had much, much more cadmium than in the plants that grew without plastic in the soil,\u00bb Kirkham said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Research also shows that microplastics can stunt the growth of earthworms<\/a> and cause them to lose weight. The reasons for this weight loss aren’t fully understood, but one theory is that microplastics may obstructs earthworms’ digestive tracts, limiting their ability to absorb nutrients and so limiting their growth. This has a negative impact on the wider environment, too, the researchers say, as earthworms play a vital role in maintaining soil health. Their burrowing activity aerates the soil, prevents erosion, improves water drainage and recycles nutrients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plastic particles can also contaminate food crops directly. A 2020 study found microplastics and nanoplastics in fruit and vegetables<\/a> sold by supermarkets and in produce sold by local sellers in Catania in Sicily, Italy. Apples were the most contaminated fruit, and carrots had the highest levels of microplastics among the sampled vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to research by Willie Peijnenburg, professor of environmental toxicology and biodiversity at Leiden University in the Netherlands, crops absorb nanoplastic particles \u2013 minuscule fragments measuring between 1-100nm in size, or about 1,000 to 100 times smaller than a human blood cell \u2013 from surrounding water and soil through tiny cracks in their roots<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n