100 years ago, the first fully synthetic plastic was created and marketed to the world as, “the material of a thousand uses”. Since this creation, plastics invaded our homes, cars, and supermarkets before migrating into our oceans, drinking water and now research shows — our atmosphere.

Recent research indicates that plastics in everyday items like clothing, carpet, furniture, tires and building materials are being broken down by heat, light and friction to produce airborne microplastic particles. Once in the air, these particles are inhaled by humans and get lodged deep inside lung lining. Inside the lungs, plastic particles have the potential to leach their chemical additives like phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) into the rest of your body.

The health effects associated with environmental exposure to these particles have yet to be studied. However, studies conducted on workers in the synthetic textile and plastic production industry indicate the potential health risk. These studies have found that industry workers exposed to higher concentrations of airborne microplastic fibers experience increased rates of lung scarring and cancer. Although the average human is exposed to much lower concentrations, as plastic production continues to increase, health risks increase with it.

Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Microplastics. Source: Prata, J. C. “Airborne microplastics: consequences to human health?”

In order to understand your personal exposure to airborne microplastics it is necessary to assess your indoor and outdoor environment separately. Although there is limited research on the concentrations of airborne microplastics, it is widely agreed that the indoor environment presents greater risk of microplastic inhalation due to its close contact with plastic surfaces and lesser dispersal and dilution mechanisms. Microplastic concentration indoors is particularly concerning because the average person spends over 70% of the time indoors, meaning they experience chronic, low-dose exposure to these particles and their chemical additives.