A Single Tea Bag Could Release Billions of Microplastics Into The Body
December 27, 2024 | Source: Science Alert | by David Nield
Regular ScienceAlert readers will likely know how pervasive microplastics are – getting into human tissue, ancient rock, and bottled water – but it may come as a shock to discover just how many of these tiny fragments can lurk inside a single tea bag.
A new study led by researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in Spain found that individual tea bags can release billions of micro- and nanoplastic (MNPL) particles in every millimeter of water they’re dunked into.
Those figures might seem surprisingly high, but they’re in line with previous research looking at the combination of plastics and high heat, such as food containers put in the microwave. It’s a sobering reminder of the prevalence of MNPLs.
“We have managed to innovatively characterize these pollutants with a set of cutting-edge techniques, which is a very important tool to advance research on their possible impacts on human health,” says microbiologist Alba García-Rodríguez, from UAB.