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COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks

Wearing face masks has become the new normal worldwide due to the global spread of the coronavirus disease 2019. The inhalation of microplastics due to the wearing of masks has rarely been reported. The present study used different types of commonly used masks to conduct breathing simulation experim...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Li, Lu, Zhao, Xiaoli, Li, Zhouyang, Song, Kang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier B.V. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7773316/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33445045
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124955
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author Li, Lu
Zhao, Xiaoli
Li, Zhouyang
Song, Kang
author_facet Li, Lu
Zhao, Xiaoli
Li, Zhouyang
Song, Kang
author_sort Li, Lu
collection PubMed
description Wearing face masks has become the new normal worldwide due to the global spread of the coronavirus disease 2019. The inhalation of microplastics due to the wearing of masks has rarely been reported. The present study used different types of commonly used masks to conduct breathing simulation experiments and investigate microplastic inhalation risk. Microplastic inhalation caused by reusing masks that underwent various treatment processes was also tested. Results implied that wearing masks considerably reduces the inhalation risk of particles (e.g., granular microplastics and unknown particles) even when they are worn continuously for 720 h. Surgical, cotton, fashion, and activated carbon masks wearing pose higher fiber-like microplastic inhalation risk, while all masks generally reduced exposure when used under their supposed time (<4 h). N95 poses less fiber-like microplastic inhalation risk. Reusing masks after they underwent different disinfection pretreatment processes can increase the risk of particle (e.g., granular microplastics) and fiber-like microplastic inhalation. Ultraviolet disinfection exerts a relatively weak effect on fiber-like microplastic inhalation, and thus, it can be recommended as a treatment process for reusing masks if proven effective from microbiological standpoint. Wearing an N95 mask reduces the inhalation risk of spherical-type microplastics by 25.5 times compared with not wearing a mask.
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spelling pubmed-77733162020-12-31 COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks Li, Lu Zhao, Xiaoli Li, Zhouyang Song, Kang J Hazard Mater Article Wearing face masks has become the new normal worldwide due to the global spread of the coronavirus disease 2019. The inhalation of microplastics due to the wearing of masks has rarely been reported. The present study used different types of commonly used masks to conduct breathing simulation experiments and investigate microplastic inhalation risk. Microplastic inhalation caused by reusing masks that underwent various treatment processes was also tested. Results implied that wearing masks considerably reduces the inhalation risk of particles (e.g., granular microplastics and unknown particles) even when they are worn continuously for 720 h. Surgical, cotton, fashion, and activated carbon masks wearing pose higher fiber-like microplastic inhalation risk, while all masks generally reduced exposure when used under their supposed time (<4 h). N95 poses less fiber-like microplastic inhalation risk. Reusing masks after they underwent different disinfection pretreatment processes can increase the risk of particle (e.g., granular microplastics) and fiber-like microplastic inhalation. Ultraviolet disinfection exerts a relatively weak effect on fiber-like microplastic inhalation, and thus, it can be recommended as a treatment process for reusing masks if proven effective from microbiological standpoint. Wearing an N95 mask reduces the inhalation risk of spherical-type microplastics by 25.5 times compared with not wearing a mask. Elsevier B.V. 2021-06-05 2020-12-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7773316/ /pubmed/33445045 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124955 Text en © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Li, Lu
Zhao, Xiaoli
Li, Zhouyang
Song, Kang
COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks
title COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks
title_full COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks
title_fullStr COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks
title_short COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks
title_sort covid-19: performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7773316/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33445045
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124955
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