HHS Launches Program To Combat Microplastics in the Body

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), this month announced STOMP — Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics — a nationwide $144 million program to create a toolbox for measuring, researching and removing microplastics and nanoplastics from the human body.

Plastic from food, water, even air is accumulating in the human body. Food contributes to microplastic exposure through the way it’s grown, processed, packaged and prepared. Researchers have detected microplastics in lungs, arterial plaques and the brain. Animal studies show this causes disease; in human studies the data shows a high correlation.

However, “We don’t have a precise way to measure microplastics in our organs, nor do we understand which ones are affecting us in what ways — because each plastic works differently,” said the program’s announcement. “We can’t clear what we can’t measure, and we can’t develop interventions that are precise, safe and effective for impacts we don’t understand.”

Alicia Jackson, ARPA-H director, said, “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. Nobody wants unknown particles accumulating in their body.”

STOMP will focus on three technical areas across two phases: measurement and mechanism (phase one) and removal (phase two). During the first phase, STOMP scientists will develop microplastics measurement methods and then design experiments to understand microplastics within the human body.

The work should produce a risk stratification mechanism for plastic materials —  ranking them by biological harm — so that scientists, policymakers and industry share a common answer to the most important question in the field: which microplastics need to be addressed first and in what ways.

Removal is the focus in phase two. The team hopes to design interventions that are precise, safe and effective.

ARPA-H expects that teams will be needed to address the full goals of STOMP. Proposers are encouraged to form multidisciplinary teams with a range of technical expertise. Learn more about STOMP on its program page, including details about the solicitation and Proposers’ Day registration.