Toxins from Great Salt Lake dust are absorbed by plants, soils and human bodies

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TentacularSneeze@reddit

All the absorbed microplastics have some company.

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When I was doing undergrad geology, my professors took us to see the Bonneville salt flats. I saw the salt and, like an idiot, decided to taste some. It was quite bitter (it has potassium chloride I'm guessing) and I told the class about it. The prof was like, yeah don't do that. Lmao. That day we learnt about the heavy metals in the lakebed and the drying out of the lake.

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StatementBot@reddit

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Portalrules123:

SS: Related to climate and pollution collapse as unchecked climate change is contributing to the gradual drying out of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, exposing the toxic, metal-containing dust on the lakebed to be blown around by the wind. This study shows that the dust poses a risk to humans both via direct ingestion and indirect ingestion via absorption by both soil and crops that are then consumed. If the Great Salt Lake were ever to fully dry out, the populated areas around it would likely increasingly become uninhabitable due to the spreading of this toxic material. On the bright side, they may become uninhabitable long before that due to extreme drought and lack of snowpack causing freshwater to run out….oh wait, that’s not really “on the bright side”. Oh well. All in all, expect mass refugee crises not only in developing countries, but in the western USA, faster than predicted.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1stbzd1/toxins_from_great_salt_lake_dust_are_absorbed_by/ohs44rl/

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Portalrules123@reddit (OP)

SS: Related to climate and pollution collapse as unchecked climate change is contributing to the gradual drying out of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, exposing the toxic, metal-containing dust on the lakebed to be blown around by the wind. This study shows that the dust poses a risk to humans both via direct ingestion and indirect ingestion via absorption by both soil and crops that are then consumed. If the Great Salt Lake were ever to fully dry out, the populated areas around it would likely increasingly become uninhabitable due to the spreading of this toxic material. On the bright side, they may become uninhabitable long before that due to extreme drought and lack of snowpack causing freshwater to run out….oh wait, that’s not really “on the bright side”. Oh well. All in all, expect mass refugee crises not only in developing countries, but in the western USA, faster than predicted.