Exudation of microplastics from commonly used face masks in COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic forced use of face masks up to billions of masks per day globally. Though an important and necessary measure for control of the pandemic, use of masks also poses some inherent risks. One of those risks is inhalation of microplastics released from the mask materials. Since most of the mask materials are made from plastic/polymers, they always have the potential to expose the user to fragmented microplastics. To estimate the amount of inhalable microplastic exuded from masks, an experiment simulating real-life scenario of mask usage was performed. The study included collection of microplastics oozed out from the masks on to a filter paper followed by staining and fluorescence detection of the total number of microplastics using a microscope. Both used and new masks were

SUBMITTER: Bhangare RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9758682 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature