University’s engineering researchers CaliforniaOvarian Los Angeles (Ucla), in AmericaHave found that Paste You can publish From hundreds of to thousands of microfltes in a piece of saliva And be intake. The results of this study have been presented at the Spring Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
“Our goal This is not dangerous to anyone. Scientists do not know whether microflasts are dangerous to us. No rehearsals were made. But we know that we are in our daily lives, we wanted to explore here, ”says Sanjay Mohandi, a key researcher and engineering professor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Plastic is everywhere. Many products, tables, clothes and sponges we use daily can expose people Small plastic particles Micron width is known as microflastic. Now, the glue can be added to the list. Researchers conducted a small pilot study, to find out how much it was consumed when chewing chewing, it has already provided some interesting data.
Studies for animals and the human cells show that microphysics They may cause damageSo even though more definitive answers from the scientific community are expected, people can take steps to reduce the expression of microfluctics.
Scientists assess as humans They consume tens of thousands (1 micrometer to 5 millimeters wide) Every year through food, drinks, plastic containers, coatings and production or production processes. However, despite the global popularity, gum has not been widely studied as a potential source of microphlastics. Therefore, Mohanti and the masters student of his laboratory, Lisa Lowo, wanted to identify how many microfllate a person can eat by chewing natural and artificial chewing gum.
Komosa, sweet and flavor foundation
The chewing gum is done A kaimus, sweet, delicious base And other products. Natural gum uses a plant polymer, such as gum or sab of other trees, while other products use synthetic rubber sites from oil -reached polymers.
“Our initial hypothesis is that there will be many more microflysics on synthetic gums Baseline“Lowe explained, he launched the project as a university coach at the UCA and the host of the research.
Researchers checked five artificial gum brands and five natural gum, all of which are commercially available. The researchers were looking for Reduce the human factor In various chewing and saliva forms, so they used seven pieces of each brand, which are all chewed by an individual.
In the laboratory, the person thus the glue Four minutes, produce saliva samples every 30 secondsThen he washed his mouth with clean water. All of this was attached to a model. In another experiment, the salivary samples were gathered for 20 minutes from time to time to notice each gum microphlastic output rate. Later, the researchers measured the amount of microphysics in each saliva model. Plastic particles were calculated in a red dye and the microscope or analyzed by the Fourier transformed spectrum, which provided the polymer mixture.
Lov Gram -published 100 microplastics are measured on average From GUM, some unique gum is released up to 600 microflastics per gram. A common glue weighs between 2 to 6 grams, which means that a large gum can be released up to 3000 plastic particles. Researchers estimated that if the average chewing person from 160 to 180 small gum per year, it could consume about 30,000 microplastic. If an average person consumes tens of thousands of microblasts per year, the amount of chewing and chewing intake will increase significantly.
“Surprisingly, artificial and natural gum They have released a similar amount Low says when chewing microblasts, “Lo says. In addition, there were the same polymers: polyeolphin, polyethylene, polycrylamide and polystyrene tereptala.
Most microphysics separated from gum In the first two minutes of chewing it. However, Mohanti says that they have not been released due to the decay of the enzymes of saliva. Instead, the bribery is enough to give the chewing process. After eight minutes of chewing, 94% of plastic particles collected during the tests were released. Therefore, if you want to reduce the exposure of chewing microflays, Lowe advises you to chew a piece for a long time instead of eating new ones.
This study was limited to identify 20 micrometers width or more microblasts due to the tools and techniques used. Mohanti says that small plastic particles are detected in saliva and needed Additional research to evaluate a possible output Gum nanometric plastic.
“Plastic released in saliva is a small part of the plastic that is glue. So, take care of the environment Don’t throw it out or hit the wall“Mohanti concludes. Who remembers that the used gum is not properly rejected. This is another source of plastic pollution to the environment.
