Life in Plastic, Not So Fantastic: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of Academic and Popular Science Articles on the Impacts of Microplastics on Human Health

The chapter investigates the proliferation of microplastics, a byproduct of extensive plastic production and utilisation, the extent of their impact on human health, and the vital role played by scientific journalism in transferring and making specialised knowledge accessible to the lay public. The study examines news articles from leading US popular science magazines on the link between microplastics and human health, comparing them with a collection of the primary academic scientific articles quoted in the news under investigation to explore how the two types of publications frame the interaction of microplastics with human health and the existing uncertainties regarding microplastic toxicity and epidemiology. The analysis reveals that when addressing the issue of microplastic toxicity, mass science journalists refrain from transforming academic speculations and cautious language into unequivocal assertions, faithfully conveying the uncertainties surrounding the impact of microplastics on humans and expressing them in more direct and colloquial terms.