Apples and carrots top list for ‘worrying’ microplastics

CARROTS are contaminated with microplastics that could be harmful to humans, scientists have found.

At the University of Catania in Sicily, scientist Margherita Ferrante found carrots were the most affected vegetable while apples were the fruit most contaminated with microplastics.

Researchers bought samples from local markets, supermarkets and shops to analyse using a scanning electron microscope to calculate microparticles.

They found plastic participles were more concentrated in fruit than in vegetables and that microplastic sizes varied in plants. Microplastics are usually less than 5mm in diameter and can include particles as small as 10 nanometres.

There are a million nanometres in a millimetre. The research highlights

“worrying estimated daily intakes, ei- ther for adults or for children in terms of plastic particles” but the effects on humans is yet to be understood.

Published this week in the journal Environmental Research, the study calls for an urgent review of the effects of microplastics on human health.

A second study, performed by Dr Lianzhen Li of the Yanthai Institute of Coastal Zone Research in China and Prof Willie Peijnenburg from Leiden University in the Netherlands for publication in the journal Nature Sustainability this week, claimed plastics were being absorbed by the root systems of crops. For decades scientists believed larger plastic particles could not pass into plant tissue.

But the research has cast doubts on this, with root vegetables and leafy vegetables found to be most at risk of microplastic contamination.