bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

The Guardian

The average person eats at least 50,000 particles of microplastic a year and breathes in a similar quantity, according to the first study to estimate human ingestion of plastic pollution.
The true number is likely to be many times higher, as only a small number of foods and drinks have been analysed for plastic contamination.
The scientists reported that drinking a lot of bottled water drastically increased the particles consumed.
The health impacts of ingesting microplastic are unknown, but they could release toxic substances. Some pieces are small enough to penetrate human tissues, where they could trigger immune reactions.
Microplastic pollution is mostly created by the disintegration of plastic litter and appears to be ubiquitous across the planet.
Researchers find microplastics everywhere they look; in the air, soil, rivers and the deepest oceans around the world.
They have been detected in tap and bottled water, seafood and beer. They were also found in human stool samples for the first time in October, confirming that people ingest the particles.
Seas around Hong Kong swamped in microplastics as city’s obsession with unnecessary packaging leads to 11-fold increase in pollution, study shows
The new research, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, took the data from 26 previous studies that measure the amounts of microplastic particles in fish, shellfish, sugar, salt, beer and water, as well as in the air in cities.
The scientists then used US government dietary guidelines to calculate how many particles people would eat in a year. Adults eat about 50,000 microplastic particles a year and children about 40,000, they estimated.
Most food and drink types have not been tested, however, meaning the study only assessed 15 per cent of calorie intake.
“We don’t know a huge amount. There are some major data gaps that need to get filled,” said Kieran Cox, at the University of Victoria in Canada, who led the research.
Other foods, such as bread, processed products, meat, dairy and vegetables, may well contain just as much plastic, he said.
“It is really highly likely there is going to be large amounts of plastic particles in these. You could be heading into the hundreds of thousands.”
Some of the best available data is on water, with bottled water containing 22 times more microplastic than tap water on average.

A person who only drank bottled water would consume 130,000 particles per year from that source alone, the researchers said, compared with 4,000 from tap water.
Scientists do not know what happens when microplastics are inhaled, but the new study speculates that “most inhaled particles will be ingested” rather than coughed or sneezed out.
The researchers also estimated that microplastic particles settling on to a single meal per day could add a further tens of thousands to the annual amount consumed.
Cox was clear that there are no known health effects as yet, but he said the ingested particles are “a high exposure risk in terms of numbers. It could be a potential alarm call for sure”.
Alastair Grant, Professor of Ecology at the University of East Anglia, said there was no evidence that the plastic particles identified in the study posed any “significant danger to human health”.
Grant, who was not involved in the research, added that it was likely that only a small percentage of particles inhaled actually reached the lungs.
“One of the two sources for particle concentrations in air says that the observed fibres are too large to be inhaled, so the numbers of particles that actually reach our lungs will be much smaller than the numbers quoted,” he said.
The European Commission’s chief scientific advisers said in a report in April : “The evidence [on the environmental and health risks of microplastics] provides grounds for genuine concern and for precaution to be exercised.”
Cox said his research had changed his own behaviour. “I definitely steer away from plastic packaging and try to avoid bottled water as much as possible,” he said.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


Singapore raises air-con temperatures in public spaces to save energy amid fuel crisis

Site patrols a good start for better protection of Hong Kong’s countryside

Patagonia faces criticism for ‘earth usage fee’ on online orders to curb excessive returns

Safety fears bloom in Japan as ageing cherry trees collapse in Tokyo parks

Environment

People consume at least 50,000 plastic particles a year. Here are the sources

Microplastics – tiny plastic shards broken down from man-made products such as synthetic clothing, car tyres and contact lenses – are among the most ubiquitous materials on the planet. Photo: Shutterstock

A bottle of water. Shutterstock

Microplastics in South China Sea at its highest levels, according to samples taken by Volvo Ocean Race crew member

Greenpeace campaigner Andy Chu Kong shows microplastics samples found near Tung Ping Chau. Photo: Nora Tam

Turn the Tide on Plastic from the United Nations during the Volvo Ocean race in Kwun Tong. 07FEB18 SCMP / Winson Wong

Mussels, lobsters and oysters: microplastic pollution finds way into 170 different types of Hong Kong seafood

An activist from the Greenpeace Science Unit displays a petri dish containing a sample of marine debris and zooplankton. Photo: Greenpeace

Seas around Hong Kong swamped in microplastics as city’s obsession with unnecessary packaging leads to 11-fold increase in pollution, study shows

Rubbish are seen at Soko Island in a media Boat trip organized by WWF. 06NOV17 SCMP / K. Y. Cheng

Greenpeace campaigner Chan Hall-sion with some of the single-use plastic found in Hong Kong’s waters. Photo: Sam Tsang

News

World

Microplastics – tiny plastic shards broken down from man-made products – are among the most ubiquitous materials on the planet
Scientists say that drinking a lot of bottled water drastically increased the particles consumed


Health effects of ingestion of microplastics via food, water and breathing still unknown.


Wellness