How much microplastic are we actually breathing in? Here's what we do and still don't know

AI Summary

Microplastic particles, shed from everyday items like clothes and packaging, are widespread in the environment—including the atmosphere where humans inhale them. Research continues to assess the health implications of this pervasive plastic pollution.

You've already inhaled thousands of microscopic particles today. Some will be dust, pollen or soot, and some will be plastic. Microplastics—tiny fragments shed from clothes, tires or packaging—have been found pretty much everywhere. They're in oceans, soils, wildlife, remote mountaintops, deep-sea trenches and the atmosphere.