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Nanoplastics released from daily used silicone and latex products during mechanical breakdown

Ekvall, Mikael T. LU ; Gimskog, Isabella LU ; Kelpsiene, Egle LU ; Mellring, Alice ; Månsson, Alma ; Lundqvist, Martin LU and Cedervall, Tommy LU (2023) In PLoS ONE 18(9).
Abstract

Waste of polymer products, especially plastics, in nature has become a problem that caught the awareness of the general public during the last decade. The macro- and micro polymers in nature will be broken down by naturally occurring events such as mechanical wear and ultra-violet (UV) radiation which will result in the generation of polymeric particles in the nano-size range. We have recently shown that polystyrene and high-density polyethylene macroplastic can be broken down into nano-sized particles by applying mechanical force from an immersion blender. In this article, we show that particles in the nano-size range are released from silicone and latex pacifiers after the same treatment. Additionally, boiling the pacifiers prior to... (More)

Waste of polymer products, especially plastics, in nature has become a problem that caught the awareness of the general public during the last decade. The macro- and micro polymers in nature will be broken down by naturally occurring events such as mechanical wear and ultra-violet (UV) radiation which will result in the generation of polymeric particles in the nano-size range. We have recently shown that polystyrene and high-density polyethylene macroplastic can be broken down into nano-sized particles by applying mechanical force from an immersion blender. In this article, we show that particles in the nano-size range are released from silicone and latex pacifiers after the same treatment. Additionally, boiling the pacifiers prior to the mechanical breakdown process results in an increased number of particles released from the silicone but not the latex pacifier. Particles from the latex pacifier are acutely toxic to the freshwater filter feeding zooplankter Daphnia magna.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
18
issue
9
article number
e0289377
pages
10 pages
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85171240912
  • pmid:37703259
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0289377
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: Copyright: © 2023 Ekvall et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
id
e9768933-b998-4eb1-b726-b618c3a3edf9
date added to LUP
2023-09-25 11:46:22
date last changed
2024-11-30 01:24:20
@article{e9768933-b998-4eb1-b726-b618c3a3edf9,
  abstract     = {{<p>Waste of polymer products, especially plastics, in nature has become a problem that caught the awareness of the general public during the last decade. The macro- and micro polymers in nature will be broken down by naturally occurring events such as mechanical wear and ultra-violet (UV) radiation which will result in the generation of polymeric particles in the nano-size range. We have recently shown that polystyrene and high-density polyethylene macroplastic can be broken down into nano-sized particles by applying mechanical force from an immersion blender. In this article, we show that particles in the nano-size range are released from silicone and latex pacifiers after the same treatment. Additionally, boiling the pacifiers prior to the mechanical breakdown process results in an increased number of particles released from the silicone but not the latex pacifier. Particles from the latex pacifier are acutely toxic to the freshwater filter feeding zooplankter Daphnia magna.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ekvall, Mikael T. and Gimskog, Isabella and Kelpsiene, Egle and Mellring, Alice and Månsson, Alma and Lundqvist, Martin and Cedervall, Tommy}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Nanoplastics released from daily used silicone and latex products during mechanical breakdown}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289377}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0289377}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}