Microplastics – “You’re Probably Inhaling Microplastics Right Now”

You’re Probably Inhaling Microplastics Right Now” is the title of a June 25, 2020 New York Times opinion by Janice Brahney, an assistant professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opinion/plastic-air-pollution.html – Her group “… sampled dust in 11 scattered locations, from Joshua Tree National Park in California to the Wind River Range in Wyoming …” – They found microplastics in “… all of our samples … up to 6 percent of the dusts in those far-flung locations are microplastics and that more than 1,000 metric tons are deposited in those places every year by wind and rain … This waste has become so ubiquitous that it’s now in the air we breathe … If dust in the Grand Canyon contains microplastics, how many of these tiny plastic particles are in city dust? … What effect are they having on the environment? Are microplastics more toxic than other, better-understood sources of air pollution such as natural and industrial dusts? …” – Their research is published in the June 12, 2020 issue of Science magazine at https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6496/1257 #Microplastics