#microplastics

#microplastics

These "magic" sponges are made of melamine foam, a lightweight plastic material with a fine grit that acts like sandpaper to lift grime and tackle tough messes with minimal effort. Just add water, scrub a little bit, and watch the trickiest messes disappear in no time. Their mix of simplicity and power has made them a must-have cleaning tool around the world - but all that "magic" may come at a cost.

Microwave safe simply means that the material won't melt, crack, or warp in high heat produced by a microwave, which can reach up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit. As long as the container remains intact, you're technically in the clear. The term doesn't account for less visible risks. From a regulatory standpoint, there's no universally enforced standard for what makes a container safe for the microwave. Container makers often decide for themselves whether the product merits the label.

The surge in the use of disposable face masks during the Covid pandemic has left a chemical timebomb that could harm humans, animals and the environment, research suggests. Billions of tonnes of plastic face masks created to protect people from the spread of the virus are now breaking down, releasing microplastics and chemical additives including endocrine disruptors, the research found.

Global Earth Day published studies that found pets and babies are especially at risk for microplastic exposure from household dust. Both household members stay low to the ground-closer to dust, microplastics, and particulates that are invisible to the naked eye on carpets and floors-and put everything in their mouths, making it easier for them to ingest microplastic dust that could be on those objects.

All 25,000 of these outflows are causing toxic pollution every time it rains. While sewage pollution attracts all the attention and coverage with 56bn earmarked to address it, just a few million is invested into addressing pollution from these 25,000 road outfalls. This pollution contains microplastics, hydrocarbons, toxic metals and chemicals. It is carcinogenic, it gets into the water system but no one is measuring these harms. No one is interested.

If you are like me, you brush your teeth-too vigorously, I'm told-with a plastic rack of plastic bristles. You use your plastic brush to lather a paste pushed from a plastic tube. When you have a cavity, you go to a dentist who might

The most contaminated products were ripened cheeses, containing a staggering 1,857 plastic particles per kilogram, which is around 45 times more than bottled water.

Despite the apparent benefits of treated sewage sludge as a fertilizer, it poses significant environmental risks due to the presence of 'forever chemicals', microplastics, and toxic waste, which current regulations fail to adequately address.

Mia and her peers were matched with Ryan Thoni, an ichthyologist and curatorial associate in the museum's division of vertebrate zoology. Thoni's project to gather information on when and how microplastics began to enter the environment relied on the museum's vast collection of fish specimens dating from more than a century ago - some 3.2 million in total.

Kennedy and the MAHA movement's rise to power is disorienting for scientists and advocates in environmental health who are focused on human exposure to toxic chemicals and environmental pollutants.

These findings indicate that not only do microplastics infiltrate human tissues, but air is also a significant pathway for such plastics to enter plants.