How we became 'Plastic People': Startling new documentary tracks global spread of toxic microplastics from the bottom of oceans to inside the human brain - and how it all started with the 1950s throwa

From the summit of Mount Everest to the deep depths of the Mariana Trench, and even our brains, microplastics — tiny substances linked to cancer, infertility and a host of other health issues — are found everywhere. Dr. Sedat Gündoğdu at Cukurova University in Turkey, whose work studying fisheries led him to the microplastics crisis, showed the filmmakers some of the first-ever evidence of microplastics found inside the human brain, in tissue samples from an excised brain tumor Studies have estimated microplastics exposure cost the US healthcare system $289 billion in 2018 alone, in part because plastics do not decay back into natural organic molecules, instead retaining their synthetic chemical make-up as they get smaller. The Plastic People film team traveled across the world - from Adana, Turkey to Portland, Texas; from Rome in Italy to Rochester, New York - interviewing scientists who investigate microplastics and shadowing their field work. Above plastic pollution on a beach near Adana Plastics become microplastics because they do not decay back into natural organic molecules - instead retaining their synthetic chemical make-up as they get smaller and smaller Tong and Addelman hope their film and the UN-led 'Plastics Treaty' will be able to encourage consumers and industry to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics — which makes up 40 percent of global plastics production. Gigantic petrochemical refineries help turn crude oil and natural gas into plastic polymers along the gulf coast of Texas - and some nearly wrecked the local fishing economy 'We wanted to show people what an oil spill looks like inside of the human body,' Tong explained, 'and that's exactly what our film is about.'