## Did you know that...

...microplastics, i.e. fragments invisible to the naked eye that are produced when plastics decompose, were recently detected in human blood by a team of Dutch scientists? Microplastics contain similar chemical additives as the original plastic containers i.e., BPA and other EDCs. Plastic microparticles are ubiquitous pollutants that litter the environment and the food chain, but no study has yet confirmed their presence in bodily fluids. Microplastics have been detected in various parts of the world, including the most inaccessible and mostly uninhabited places, such as Mount Everest, Russian Siberia and even Antarctica. This time, however, the scientists analysed blood samples from 22 healthy adult volunteers and found plastic microparticles ≥700 nm in 17 of them. The amount and type of plastics from which these particles originated varied considerably between the volunteers. In half of the volunteers, particles were found from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastics and polyethylene in about a quarter of participants. However, the researchers caution that the differences between individuals could also be due to whether they were exposed to plastic just prior to blood collection. At the same time, they note that it is not yet clear what effects plastic microparticles have on human health. However, this does not change the fact that this is a unique study that has demonstrated internal exposure to microplastics in humans for the first time.