Microplastics Have Now Been Found in The Deepest Part of The Human Lungs

The term "microplastic" was first used 18 years ago.

An estimated 74,000 particles of plastic are consumed by the average human each year. In March of this year, scientists announced they had found microplastics in our veins.

They are also circulating at low levels in our lungs.

In 11 of 13 lung tissue samples from living humans, 39 microplastic particles were found.

The makeup of the synthetic polymers has not been analyzed in previous studies on lung cancer samples.

A dozen of the types of microplastic were found in this study. There are plastic bags and packaging made of polyethylene, as well as nylon from clothing.

Microplastics were found in small amounts in the lungs and lower lung tissue, but they were more likely to be found in the lower lung tissue.

The plastic particles were large in the lungs.

Respiratory specialist Laura Sadofsky from Hull York Medical School in the UK says that this is surprising as the airways are smaller in the lower parts of the lungs and we would have expected particles of these sizes to be filters out or trapped before entering the lungs.

The Science of the Total Environment was written byJenner et al.

Microplastics are found in human lung tissue.

It has been thought that only particles with a physical diameter below 3 can enter the alveolar region of the lung. According to the scientific literature, the alveolar duct has a diameter of 540 and a length of 1,410.

The current study found particles ranging up to 2, 475 BC in length and up to 88 BC in width, which they note is too large to be present, yet present nonetheless.

According to the findings, we may be breathing larger particles than experts think.

We don't know a lot. It is not clear what the effects of low levels of microplastics in our lungs are.

This data provides an important advance in the field of air pollution, microplastics and human health.

The characterization of types and levels of microplastics can now inform realistic conditions for laboratory exposure experiments with the aim of determining health impacts.

The study was published in a journal.