I am a 42-year-old Indigenous American living with multiple treatment-resistant mental health conditions. I know I’m not alone.

While there are many valid reasons why mental illness can fall into the “treatment-resistant” category—genetics, trauma, neurochemistry—we are long overdue to ask a deeper question:

What role are environmental toxins playing in our mental and neurological health?

We already know how lead devastated generations of children.

We’ve watched how air pollution harms lungs, hearts, and even unborn babies.

And now, we’re learning that microplastics—tiny particles from packaging, processed foods, water bottles, and household products—are making their way inside us.

🧬 Microplastics have already been found in:

• Human blood
• Lung tissue
• Brain tissue (postmortem)
• Arterial plaque (stroke patients)
• Feces (including high levels in infants)
• Placentas (both maternal and fetal sides)
• Kidneys, liver, and spleen

Yet no standardized, accessible test exists for people living today to find out:

If microplastics have entered their system
Which types (PET, polystyrene, etc.) are present
How much has accumulated—and where
Whether any have crossed the blood-brain barrier, which could be silently affecting memory, mood, inflammation, and treatment resistance

🧪 Current testing options are:

• Blood microplastic screening (available only in limited research labs)
• Tissue biopsies (invasive, not routine)
• Autopsy or postmortem sampling
• No non-invasive tests exist for the brain or cerebrospinal fluid in living people

🚨 We are calling on:

• The World Health Organization (WHO)
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
• The American Psychiatric Association (APA)
• And all major public health, mental health, and environmental science organizations

To urgently prioritize funding, development, and implementation of:

🔹 Non-invasive, clinical-grade microplastic tests (blood, saliva, CSF)
🔹 Large-scale research into how plastics interact with the brain, hormones, and mood
🔹 Statistical tracking of populations with high plastic loads (age, race, region, diet, etc.)
🔹 Standard screening protocols for neurological and psychiatric evaluations
🔹 Public health guidance on exposure risk and reduction, especially for vulnerable groups

💡 Why This Matters:

If microplastics are entering the brain—and science now shows they can—then people with unexplained neurological symptoms, resistant depression, memory loss, or brain fog deserve answers.

We need to:

🔸 Determine who is most vulnerable
🔸 Understand which plastics cause the most harm
🔸 Track how much is accumulating where
🔸 Offer detox protocols, early detection, and medical intervention — not just lifelong suffering with no cause.

This petition is not just about plastic. It’s about people.

People like me, who’ve done everything “right” but are still suffering.

People like you, who want transparency, tools, and hope.

People who deserve to know what’s happening inside their own bodies—before it’s too late.

Please sign and share this petition.

Let’s make microplastic testing part of routine health care — especially for those struggling with mental or neurological illness.

Together, we can demand accountability, science, and healing.

🖤— Levi Caudill

Founder, Paper Hearts & Plastic Minds