Face masks contributing to dangerous microplastics found in lung tissue, study shows

A new U.K. study from Hull York Medical School who sampled human lung tissue identified 39 kinds of microplastics in 11 of 13 tissue samples. The most commonly found was polypropylene, which also is the most common material used to make face masks.

The most commonly found microplastics were polypropylene (23%), polyethylene terephthalate (18%) and resin (15%). Tissue from male donors contained nearly six times the microplastics of tissue from female donors.

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It had been thought that only particles smaller than 3 micrometers (µm) can enter the alveolar region of the lung. However, the particles seen in this study were up to 1,410 µm in length (1.4 mm).

According to the researchers, the disposable surgical masks that now decorate the world’s beaches, rivers and wildlands after having decorated billions of human faces happen to also be made of polystyrene and polyethylene compounds.

But the most common material in these is polypropylene, because of its ease of industrial handling. That was the most common microplastic found by UK researchers in lung tissue samples.

Epidemiologist Boris Borovoy and Colleen Huber were the first to warn in peer-reviewed research of this health hazard from inhaled microplastics and nano-plastics coming from disposable surgical masks.

They also discussed the friable nature of the particulate attached to surgical masks. Here are a few of the photos we took of surgical masks under a light microscope, with 40x to 100x magnification and without magnification.