Presence of airborne microplastics in human lung tissue
Amato-Lourenço LF, Carvalho-Oliveira R, Júnior GR, Dos Santos Galvão L, Ando RA, Mauad T (2021). Journal of Hazardous Materials.
What they found
Polymer particles (33) and fibres (4) were found in 13 of 20 lung tissue samples from autopsies in São Paulo. All particles were smaller than 5.5 µm and fibres were 8.12–16.8 µm; polyethylene and polypropylene were most frequent.
- Sample
- 20 autopsy lung samples
- What it can't tell you
- Small autopsy series, low particle counts. Health effects were not assessed; the authors say effects on the respiratory system remain unknown.
- Funding
- FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation), per Crossref
- Topics
- In the body, Air and dust
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 34492918)