July 31 (UPI) -- Scientists say the average person may be inhaling microscopic, lung-penetrating plastic particles at a rate that's 100 times what was previously assumed: 68,000 per day.
"Everywhere we look, we find microplastics, even in the air we breathe inside our homes and cars," said the French team that conducted the study. "The biggest concern is how small these particles are, completely invisible to the naked eye. We inhale thousands of them every day without even realizing it."
The study was led by Nadiia Yakovenko of the University of Toulouse and published July 30 in the journal PLOS One.
As the researchers noted, prior research has sought to estimate how many microplastics people breathe in daily. But those studies focused on relatively large particles -- about 20 to 200 micrometers in diameter.
Related
