A new study has found tiny plastic particles no bigger than sesame seeds buried throughout human lungs, indicating that people are inhaling microplastics lingering in the air.
“We found a far greater number of microplastic particles than we were expecting,” said Lauren Jenner, a postgraduate researcher at the Hull York Medical School in Britain and lead author of the study. “This study underlines that microplastics are everywhere.”
While previous research has found microplastics in lung tissue gathered from cadavers, this is the first to locate plastic particles in the lungs of living humans. For the study, scientists collected tissue samples from 13 patients undergoing surgery, finding microplastics in 11 of those patients. Polypropylene, which is used in plastic packaging, and PET, which is used in disposable plastic bottles, were the most prevalent forms of plastic. The findings were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Photo Credit: Oregon State University via Wikimedia Commons
