Researchers recently found a new source of microplastic contamination, and that's from rubber nipples in baby bottles being steam-disinfected.
A Phys.org report specified that using a new microspectroscopic approach, collaborating researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Nanjing University in China have specifically discovered steam disinfection of silicone-rubber nipples baby bottles is exposing babies, as well as the environment to "micro-and nanoplastic particles."
Both the health and environmental risks of these small particles remain unknown. However, microplastic pollution is an increasing global concern on hand, the seas, and the human body. This study is the first to identify the said new microplastic contamination source.
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The Finer the Particles, The Larger the Physiological Impact
According to professor of environmental and soil chemistry Baoshan Xing, who's also director of the UMass Amherst Stockbridge School of Agriculture and co-corresponding author of the study published in the Nature Nanotechnology journal, babies are the most sensitive population for any contaminants, not just microplastics.
Conventional approaches cannot identify the said fine particles, and the tinier they are, the larger physiological impact explained Xing.
In this paper, Xing collaborated with Yu Su, the lead author, and Rong Ji, the co-corresponding author. They are both environmental scientists in the School of the Environment of Nanjing University, collaborating with other China colleagues.
Describing their work, Xu said, silicone rubber was regarded to be a "thermally stable polymeric material in the past," although they noticed it's undergoing aging following repeated moist heat disinfection.
Plastics' aging and decomposition are major sources of microplastics in the environment. The study authors then proposed and verified that silicone rubber could be "decomposed by moist heating" to microplastic materials, even nanoplastics.
Rubber Nipples Examined
A previous study by Xing showed that nanoplastics, known to extensively pollute oceans, surface waters, and lands, are affected by plants and decrease lipid digestion in a replicated human gastrointestinal system.
Traditional approaches cannot identify particles tinier than roughly 20 micrometers, which is approximately half the size of the thickness of a human hair.
Researchers at Nanjing University studied rubber nipples through optical photothermal infrared or O-PTIR microspectroscopy, the new and developing approach that can evaluate the composition and morphology of a material.
Essentially, the microspectroscope described in the National Library of Medicine showed several flakes- or oil-film-shaped micro-and nanoplastics as tiny as 0.6 micrometers, or 600 nanometers, in the steam-disinfected rubber nipples' wash waters.
The said approach showed submicrometer-resolved steam etching on as well and chemical modification of the nipple surface.
As a result, study authors found that by the age of one year old, a baby could ingest ">0.66 million elastomer-derived micro-sized plastics." More so, Global MP emissions from teat disinfection may be as high as "5.2 x 1013 particles" each year, as stated in the study.
Xing's team pointed out that the same silicon-rubber-based consumer products, including bakeware and sealing rings in cups and cooking appliances, can produce micro-and nanoplastic particles as well when heated or above 100 degrees Celsius.
Related information about microplastic contamination found in bottles is shown on TIME's YouTube video below:
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