Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood
Leslie HA, van Velzen MJM, Brandsma SH, Vethaak AD, Garcia-Vallejo JJ, Lamoree MH (2022). Environment International.
What they found
The first study to measure plastic particles (700 nm and larger) in human whole blood by pyrolysis-GC/MS. Plastic was quantifiable in 17 of 22 donors (77%), with a mean of 1.6 µg/ml; PET, polyethylene and styrene polymers were most common, and polypropylene was below the limit of quantification.
Read this too
Rauert et al. 2025 (Environmental Science & Technology) concluded Py-GC/MS is currently unsuitable for polyethylene and PVC in biological matrices because of interferences, which bears on blood-plastic mass figures generally. A letter to the editor (Kuhlman, Environment International 2022, doi 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107400) also commented on the paper; we have not read it.
- Sample
- 22 healthy adult blood donors
- What it can't tell you
- Tiny pilot sample with one blood draw per person. Pyrolysis-GC/MS infers polymer mass from breakdown products, and a 2025 validation study (Rauert et al.) found that blood itself can produce false polyethylene and PVC signals. Says nothing about health effects.
- Funding
- Not checked (full text not accessed)
- Topics
- In the body, Methods
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 35367073); 17 of 22 from results section 3.2 as cited in our article; Crossref shows no corrections