Unsuspecting people absorb harmful substances
Countries have been named where people, without knowing it, eat and inhale the most microplastics. Scientists have calculated how much plastic people around the world consume. Residents in the UK and Ireland inhale more microplastic dust than any other country except China and Mongolia, according to a new study.
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The UK and Ireland came third in a study of 109 countries that assessed the amount of plastic that people around the world unwittingly eat and inhale, writes the Daily Mail.
This is due to unprocessed plastic garbage decomposes and ends up in the environment.
Fengqi Yu, professor of energy systems engineering at Cornell University, says, «National microplastic consumption is a critical indicator of plastic pollution and public health risks. Comprehensive global mapping supports local efforts to reduce pollution by strengthening water quality controls and efficient waste recycling.»
The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, takes into account each country's eating habits, food processing technologies, age demographics and breathing rates — all factors that contribute to the differences in how each country's residents consume microplastics .
Residents in the UK and Ireland inhale around 791,000 microplastic particles per day, according to a study. However, in China and Mongolia the figure is much higher, at 2.8 million particles per day, the Daily Mail notes.
Microplastic particles are defined as particles smaller than 5 mm.
High result for UK may be partly driven by the results of a 2019 study by King's College London, which found extremely high levels of microplastic particles in the air of the British capital, particularly microfibers from acrylic textiles.
Researchers found that U.S. residents inhale about 300,000 particles per day, while only those in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions inhale fewer, and countries such as Spain, Portugal and Hungary inhale between 60,000 and 240,000 particles per month.< /p>
The study also looked at how much microplastic people eat.
To do this, the researchers collected data on microplastic concentrations in subcategories of major food groups, such as fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains, dairy products, drinks, sugar, salt and spices.
The models also use data on , how much of these products are consumed in different countries.
For example, per capita consumption of table salt in Indonesia and the United States is about the same, but the concentration of microplastics in Indonesian table salt is about 100 times higher.
Overall, the study found that Malaysians consume about 15 grams of microplastics per month—more than any other country—with the majority of plastic particles coming from aquatic sources such as seafood.
List of countries The countries that consume the most microplastics are Malaysia, Indonesia and Egypt. The top 5 also includes the Philippines and Vietnam. Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Ghana and Congo round out the top ten.
And at the top of the ranking of countries that consume the least microplastics are Paraguay, Pakistan and Syria. The top ten also included Guinea-Bissau, Bolivia, South Africa, Jordan, Iraq, Serbia and Venezuela.