TY - JOUR
T1 - Extraction, identification, and environmental risk assessment of microplastics in commercial toothpaste
AU - Madhumitha, Chidhambaram T.
AU - Karmegam, Natchimuthu
AU - Biruntha, Muniyandi
AU - Arun, Alagarsamy
AU - Al Kheraif, Abdulaziz A.
AU - Kim, Woong
AU - Kumar, Ponnuchamy
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Microplastics in personal care and food products are given much importance globally due to the adverse impact of microplastics on living beings. In the present study, microplastics from ten different commercially sold toothpaste in India were extracted by vacuum filtration and characterized with microscopic and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic analyses. Results revealed that colorless fragments and fibers were the microparticle types of common occurrence which ranged from 0.2 to 0.9% weight in the toothpaste with an abundance range of 32.7–83.2%. Fifty percent of the toothpaste samples showed more than 50% microplastic particle abundance indicating that the microplastic plastic particles were added by the manufacturers. The minimum size of microplastics recorded in the present study was 3.5 μm with a maximum size exceeding 400 μm. The maximum number of microplastics in the toothpaste was 167, 508 and 193 respectively, distributed in the size range of <100 μm, 100–400 μm, and >400 μm. The present study recorded four major polymer types, viz., cellophane, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polyamide in the toothpaste samples. Surprisingly, polyethylene-a common polymer reported in toothpaste was not traced in the present samples. Regarding the Indian context, the current study is a new addition to the knowledge of the occurrence of microplastics in toothpaste. The average annual addition of microplastics into the environment through toothpaste was calculated as 1.4 billion g/year for India, posing a significant threat to the environment.
AB - Microplastics in personal care and food products are given much importance globally due to the adverse impact of microplastics on living beings. In the present study, microplastics from ten different commercially sold toothpaste in India were extracted by vacuum filtration and characterized with microscopic and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic analyses. Results revealed that colorless fragments and fibers were the microparticle types of common occurrence which ranged from 0.2 to 0.9% weight in the toothpaste with an abundance range of 32.7–83.2%. Fifty percent of the toothpaste samples showed more than 50% microplastic particle abundance indicating that the microplastic plastic particles were added by the manufacturers. The minimum size of microplastics recorded in the present study was 3.5 μm with a maximum size exceeding 400 μm. The maximum number of microplastics in the toothpaste was 167, 508 and 193 respectively, distributed in the size range of <100 μm, 100–400 μm, and >400 μm. The present study recorded four major polymer types, viz., cellophane, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polyamide in the toothpaste samples. Surprisingly, polyethylene-a common polymer reported in toothpaste was not traced in the present samples. Regarding the Indian context, the current study is a new addition to the knowledge of the occurrence of microplastics in toothpaste. The average annual addition of microplastics into the environment through toothpaste was calculated as 1.4 billion g/year for India, posing a significant threat to the environment.
KW - Cellophane
KW - Microplastics
KW - Polyethylene
KW - Risk assessment
KW - Toothpaste
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124964020&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.133976
DO - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.133976
M3 - Article
C2 - 35176298
AN - SCOPUS:85124964020
SN - 0045-6535
VL - 296
JO - Chemosphere
JF - Chemosphere
M1 - 133976
ER -