New study shows some may be breathing in the equivalent of a credit card of plastic weekly
Imagine inhaling a credit card.
Some people do that over the course of a week, albeit in teeny tiny specks, according to a new study.
That could also mean they breathe in more viruses catching rides on the tiny bits of plastic.
How much microplastic we exhale, how much our lungs and bloodstream absorb and the resulting health risks remain uncertain but of increasing concern.
More: Growing problem with plastics in Indian River Lagoon
“Millions of tons of these microplastic particles have been found in water, air and soil. Global microplastic production is surging, and the density of microplastics in the air is increasing significantly," the paper's lead author Mohammad S. Islam, said in a prepared statement. "For the first time, in 2022, studies found microplastics deep in human airways, which raises the concern of serious respiratory health hazards.”
The study, published Tuesday in the Journal Physics of Fluids, shows some people inhale 16.2 bits of microplastic every hour, equivalent to a credit card over an entire week.
Microplastics are bits of plastic less than 5 millimeters, a broad category, but it's the much smaller broken-down bits of our synthetic surroundings that are of the greatest health concern. Larger shards of plastic eventually break down into microplastics. They typically harbor toxic pollutants and chemicals. When inhaled, they can pose serious health risks, including respiratory diseases and cancer.
Nylon and polypropylene fibers from our clothing are among the most common microplastics. University of Central Florida researchers have found old fraying boat ropes, fishing equipment and other broken-down plastic bits are main source culprits in the Indian River Lagoon region.
Boating, cruising, and tourism in general add plastics to the waters. The combination of hurricanes and tourism, scientists have discovered, can increase microplastic concentrations in the environment, making Florida the perfect microplastic storm.
Substances such as phthalates — which can cause cancer and endocrine disruption in humans — and other plasticizers used to increase flexibility, durability and transparency of plastics have shown up in whales and other marine life. Crabs and oysters we eat from the Indian River Lagoon harbor tiny bits of plastic. Sometimes the plastics lodge in crab gills, decreasing their ability to respire. Most oysters appear unaffected. But eating them possesses unknown health risks to humans. The topic is still very new, biologists say, but some studies show toxic chemicals known to cause ill effects in humans cling to plastics.
The new study published Tuesday was conducted by scientists at the University of Technology Sydney and Queensland University of Technology in Australia; the Islamic Azad University and Urmia University in Iran; and Comilla University in Bangladesh.
Understanding how microplastics travel through the respiratory system is essential to prevent and treat respiratory diseases, the researchers said. They developed a model to analyze microplastic transport and deposition in the upper airway.
More: Researchers find redfish and Florida coastal fish contaminated with prescription drugs
More: 'Plastic rain' poses health and environmental risks, could COVID be among them?
The team explored the movement of microplastics with different shapes and sizes (1.6, 2.56, and 5.56 microns) and under slow and fast breathing conditions.
Microplastics tended to build up in hot spots in the nasal cavity and back of the throat, the researchers found.
The study highlights concerns of exposure to and inhalation of microplastics, the authors said, particularly in areas with high levels of plastic pollution or industrial activity. They hope their findings improve targeted drug delivery devices and health-risk assessment.
In the future, the researchers plan to analyze microplastic transport in "a large scale, patient-specific whole lung model that includes environmental parameters such as humidity and temperature."
In 2020, a researcher at Utah State University found airborne microscopic plastics and the resulting "plastic rain" that pulls them from the sky may be much more widespread than formerly thought. And all that synthetic fallout could have even worse health and environmental implications than acid rain.
Some scientists also have speculated that viruses, such as the one that causes Covid, may hitch rides on microplastics. Studies show the virus can remain infectious on surface of plastics for several days under room temperature and in aerosol for up to three hours.
In hospitals or households, thousands of particles of microplastics or nanoplastics can fallout on surfaces. Viruses from the ill can drop on these particles and last up to three days, absent proper cleaning, studies have found. During those three days, the particles can be re-suspended in the air with dust, risking infection when inhaled. Science can't yet determine the likeliness of such an indirect transmission route.
A Brazilian study in 2021 and another last year by researchers in the Netherlands corroborated the theory that microplastics can transport infectious coronaviruses.
More: Hurricane Ian made unwanted deliveries to the Space Coast: lots of plastic
Also: Microplastics plague the lagoon
Florida Microplastics Awareness Program
Learn about microplastics
The University of Florida's Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) — which runs a microplastics awareness project — describes the ubiquity of the microplastics problem as follows: "Wash your face, brush your teeth, you just may be adding microscopic bits of plastic into the aquatic environment," IFAS says on its Florida Microplastics Awareness Project (FMAP) page.
Jim Waymer is an environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Waymer at 321-261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Or find him on Twitter: @JWayEnviro or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jim.waymer
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Study finds some may be inhaling a credit card worth of plastic weekly
