What are microplastics and do they pose a risk to our health?

Microplastics are everywhere, but while they’re impossible to avoid, limiting our exposure will minimise the health risks

Chemistry professor John Boland: The body’s ability to expel “sticky “ microplastics is limited.

Microplastics – tiny particles that are manufactured or broken down from larger plastic objects — are everywhere. Less than 5mm in size, these synthetic nano-fragments find their way into the air, soil, food, and water supplies, where we breathe in and ingest them, so our own bodies do not escape contamination.

There’s evidence that microplastics are present in human blood, semen and breast milk.