The fact that microplastics float in the air was confirmed through an empirical study for the first time in Korea.
The Seoul Institute of Health and Environment collected airborne substances in five homes and outdoors in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.
As a result of analyzing 29 samples of suspended matter in the air, microplastics were detected in all of the samples.
Indoors, an average of 3 microplastics were detected based on 1 m3, and the particle size was 166 micrometers on average, about three times the thickness of a hair.
<News Story> installed equipment in the homes and offices of the reporters to see how much microscopic plastic was detected.
As a result of running the equipment for measuring suspended solids in the air for 24 hours, 20 fine plastics appeared in the living room.
It is estimated that there are far more microscopic plastics in the air than were detected.
This is because only relatively large particles of 20 micrometers or more were detected due to limitations in sampling and analysis equipment.
Fifteen fine plastics were also detected in the office air.
Microplastics came out from rainwater and soil collected directly by the reporters.
Experts warn that the smaller the plastic, the more dangerous it is.
This is because it can penetrate cell membranes and accumulate in cells.
Plastic particles of 20 micrometers or more can be discharged from the body even if they enter the respiratory tract, but if they are smaller to the nanoscale, they are more likely to be absorbed by the body.
When 50 nanometer-sized positively charged microplastic was put in the alveoli, the cells were found to die in 1 hour.
If the nanoplastic is positively charged for reasons such as heavy metal sticking, lung damage may occur.
The harmfulness of microplastics to the human body, especially the influx of human body through breathing, is in the early stages of research, so researchers have a lot of tasks.
Dr. Won-joon Shim of the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology warned that hundreds of billions of microplastics could be produced annually from a single styrofoam lid.
Last year, researchers at the University of Utah announced that 1,000 tons of microplastics each year mix with rain and snow in national parks and wildlife reserves.
Farming is no exception.
Researchers at the University of Catania in Italy published a study that found microscopic plastics in fruits and vegetables.
This week's <News Story> focuses on microplastics floating in the air and flowing into the respiratory system and its harmfulness.