Microplastics in house dust from 12 countries and associated human exposure
Zhang J, Wang L, Kannan K (2020). Environment International.
What they found
PET microplastics were found in every one of 286 dust samples at 38–120,000 µg/g (median 5,900 µg/g); polycarbonate at under 0.11–1,700 µg/g (median 8.8). Estimated median intake of PET from dust for infants ranged from 4,000 to 150,000 ng per kg body weight per day across countries.
- Sample
- 286 indoor dust samples from 12 countries
- What it can't tell you
- Measured mass by breaking polymers down chemically (depolymerisation), so it cannot tell particle size or count, and the mass may include PET of any size, not only microplastics. Convenience samples, not representative of each country. Infant intake relies on assumed dust ingestion rates.
- Funding
- Not checked (full text inaccessible). Crossref lists NIEHS/NIH and Chinese government and scholarship funders.
- Topics
- Air and dust, Baby and kids
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 31756678); funders from Crossref