Microplastic particles are now so much present everywhere in everyday household items like bedding, carpet and soft toys made from synthetic materials, as well as polyester and nylon, that we inhale up to 7,000 every day, a shocking research has revealed.
The total was 100 times higher than expected – posing a potential health threat that could rank alongside asbestos or tobacco, said the pioneering study which used highly sensitive equipment to count tiny particles less than 10 microns in size – just a tenth of the width of a human hair.
The highest concentration was in the room of an eight-year-old girl because her bedding, carpet and soft toys were all made from synthetic materials.
Professor Anoop Chauhan, a respiratory specialist with Portsmouth Hospitals Trust, said microplastics were dangerous because they did not break down. ‘Having these particles in your body can cause stress and changes in metabolism, it can affect immunity, the ability to fight infections, it can affect your reproductive capacity and potentially it could be carcinogenic – causing cancer,’ he said.
Dr Fay Couceiro, an environmental pollution expert who led the study, also took samples from the kitchen and another bedroom in the girl’s home.
She said: ‘I am astonished by the breathable levels of microplastics in each of our homes and more work on this absolutely must be done.’
She said the quantities recorded were probably an underestimate because they covered only 14 hours and not a whole day.
Previous studies have found microplastic particles lodged in all parts of the body, including the brain, gut, and the womb.
Canadian research published in 2019 suggested we eat and breathe in between 74,000 and 121,000 a year, and those who drink bottled water take in an extra 90,000.
Microplastics are increasingly being found in vital organs in humans such as the brain, womb and lungs. While the science is in its infancy, scientists suspect microplastics can potentially cause or aggravate respiratory conditions. The particles have also been found in the gut and blood. Some researchers suspect their presence is likely to worsen inflammation.
Also, plastic particles can act as carriers of chemicals and pollutants. These can include endocrine disrupting chemicals, which are associated with disruption in fertility, delayed neurodevelopment in children, immune disorders, and hormone-related cancers.