Each human may be inhaling about 16.2 bits of plastic every hour, equivalent to the size of a credit card per week, a new study published June 13 highlighted.
The study aimed to study how microplastics are inhaled and deposited in the upper airways so as to understand the behavior of microplastics in the human respiratory system. It was conducted by a consortium of scientists in Australia, Iran, and Bangladesh led by Dr. Mohamed Islam of the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and published in the scientific journal “Physics of Fluid.” (RELATED: Microplastic Pollution Found In Samples Near The Peak Of Mt. Everest)
Using computational modeling, the scientists discovered that more microplastics were deposited in the nasal cavity than further down the airways, due to the relatively low speed of flow of the particles in the nasal cavity. They also found that the flow rate, shape, and size of the microplastics determine the variation in amounts of deposition along the airways. The study also warned that long-term exposure to microplastics is a health hazard. A related study showed that microplastics are everywhere as emerging contaminants, from our synthetic fiber clothes into our water bodies and marine life and back on our tables as xenohormones in our foods.
A team of researchers created a computational fluid dynamics model to analyse the transportation and deposition of microplastics in human airways. pic.twitter.com/hJreJDEcvu
— RAW EGG NATIONALIST (@Babygravy9) June 17, 2023
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles up to 5 mm in diameter, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). They are generated from the degradation of plastic products, consumer products, tire wear, and industrial breakdown, according to the study led by Dr. Islam. They occur together with other familiar substances such as additives, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides, and have been linked to cancer, hormonal disturbance, reproductive problems, obesity, and diabetes, according to another study.
“The accumulation of deposited microplastics in the airways may adversely impact the human respiratory system,” Dr. Islam and his colleagues said in the study.
The world’s first microplastic rain forecast was issued in Paris, France, on May 25, per The Independent and Le Monde. “Today’s weather in Paris will be sunny, though with a few plastic showers up to 40 kilos in cumulative rain over the day,” went the forecast, according to Le Monde.