Plastic has been found in the deepest parts of the ocean, the air, and our brains—and now researchers have put a number to how much its prevalence is costing us in health care. A group of physicians, epidemiologists, and endocrinologists worked together to itemize the “disease burden” that chemical additives in plastics cause— and they estimate $249 billion in 2018 alone is a conservative number, reports the Los Angeles Times. While research into micro- and nanoplastics is nascent, years of studies have connected these chemical additives to different types of cancers, diabetes, obesity, decrea…