The research team has used its work to create an online calculator that will help other scientists convert information on plastic particle counts into standard units of mass and surface area, which will help assess how much plastic has invaded specific human organs.
The calculator will "create an atlas of human pollution," Halden said. "We want to create an exposure map for the human body."
People who want to avoid ingesting plastic are out of luck, given all of the plastic in the environment that's constantly being ground down into microscopic particles, Halden and Cohen said.
"It's impossible to completely protect ourselves from plastic ingestion," Cohen said. "Microplastics have been measured in tap water and bottled water, and in the air that we breathe."
Food also contains microplastic particles. Just last week, researchers from the University of Exeter in England and the University of Queensland in Australia found plastic in samples of five different seafoods -- oysters, prawns, squid, crabs and sardines, according to a report published Aug. 12 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
"But you can definitely reduce your exposure by simply thinking reusable instead of disposable," Cohen continued. That includes buying as much unpackaged food as possible, and using water bottles and other dishware made from ceramics, metals or other non-plastic sources.
The National Geographic Society has more about microplastics.
SOURCES: Rolf Halden, PhD, director, Arizona State University Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, Tempe, Ariz.; Dianna Cohen, CEO, nonprofit Plastic Pollution Coalition, Washington, D.C.; American Chemical Society virtual annual meeting, Aug. 17, 2020
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