First evidence of microplastics in human urine, a preliminary study of intake in the human body
Pironti C, Notarstefano V, Ricciardi M, Motta O, Giorgini E, Montano L (2022). Toxics.
What they found
Raman microspectroscopy found four pigmented microplastic fragments (4–15 µm) in urine from four of six volunteers, identified as polyethylene vinyl acetate, PVC, polypropylene and polyethylene.
- Sample
- 6 volunteers in southern Italy
- What it can't tell you
- Six people and four particles in total: a proof of concept, not a measure of how much plastic people excrete. Contamination risk is high at counts this low.
- Funding
- Not stated in the abstract
- Topics
- In the body
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 36668766, PMC9867291); Crossref shows no corrections