Micro Plastics were traced in Disposable plastic cups and containers which already pose a serious threat to the environment also has an ill effect on mankind. These cups and containers contain micro plastic lining that can shed into your drink, thus resulting to hazardous health risks.
Micro plastics and its ill effects
According to reports from National Institute of Standards and Technology, the level of decomposition in these plastic waste is almost at the bottom. These cups are mostly used once and are disposed away. They contain a coating of polythene that are hard to decompose in the environment. The researchers have pointed out that when these cups are filled with hot water or coffee, the thin layering realizes plastic substances into the hot liquid.
The researchers at the institute conducted an experiment to showcase the result of these cups having micro plastics. At first they filled the cup with water and then and sprayed it out to dry. This resulted in the separation of the particles from the liquid. The particles were then sorted out based on their size and charge. These were then exposed to Butanol which an alcohol – the alcohol allowed the particles to grow in size as it condensed into the air.
Once the particles grew in size, it was easily detectable and was run through under a microscope. The size of these particles varied from 30 nanometers to 80 nanometers.
As per reports from the Researchers of National Institute of Standards and Technology, “people have looked at snow in Antartica, the bottom of glacial lakes and found microplastics bigger than about 100 nanometers, meaning they were likely not small enough to enter a cell and cause physical problems. Our study is different because these nanoparticles are really small and a big deal because they could get inside of a cell, possibly disrupting its function.”
In recent cases, micro plastics were traced in Human Blood and also in Mussels that people often consume.
