LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A medical school student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is hoping to change the way restaurants prepare your food in the U.S. For Joshua Khorsandi, it’s all about reducing the number of microplastics that can get into the food we eat.

Khorsandi is studying to be a doctor but now he’s studying a little bit of public policy on the side.

He says he wants to make it so restaurants have to get rid of plastic cutting boards and switch to alternatives like wooden ones, in order to reduce the intake of microplastics.

“I’m kind of a health freak,” Khorsandi said. “I really care about what I put into my body and when I saw that they were cutting, chicken, fish, meats everything on plastic cutting boards, it immediately was like a light bulb in my brain to try to fix that.”

He’s taken to speaking with Las Vegas city council members and state lawmakers about the research on the dangers of microplastics.

“They have a lot of harmful effects. They could disrupt your gut microbiome in your gut. They pass through your intestinal barrier and get into your bloodstream, and that’s how they start accumulating in your organs,” Khorsandi said. “So that’s how they get to your brain and your ovaries, your kidneys, and they actually could also pass the placental barrier and get into fetuses as well.”

Khorsandi also added research into microplastics is relatively new, so many of their long-term effects aren’t known yet. Regardless, he’s hoping new legislation can help prevent potential side effects.

Restaurant owners like Vincent Rotolo are on board, as long as officials give it the green light.

“I do support whatever the health department thinks is going to be safe for all of our customers. That’s the main thing,” Rotolo said. “Customers have to be safe, and if we find that plastic is hurting people, we’ve got to make change, and if we find that plastic is okay, then we keep going forward.”

Rotolo also said it wouldn’t be a money issue either because cutting boards and other equipment are replaced on a regular basis.

Khorsandi said that he’s got meetings with lawmakers scheduled in the coming weeks.

He also said he was inspired to go before lawmakers by another UNLV medical school student who helped create a motorcycle safety law that went into effect at the start of the year.