bloomer

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A place for optimism, relentless positivity, anti-doomerism, and snuggle sessions.

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Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data (www.sciencedaily.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by Wheaties@hexbear.net to c/bloomer@hexbear.net

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It turns out the world may not be quite so contaminated, it's just the research laboratories.

Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab gloves. A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates, which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing. In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I love science. I don't mean that disingenuously . I do kinda love that years of research on this topic asking the big important questions, and it all gets tripped up by someone eventually asking the small, easily forgettable, procedural question.

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[–] db_null@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Homo Plasticus on Arte and DW is a great doc, and the team in Italy addresses the challenges of lab equipment beung mostly plastic. The numbers they find in food are still shocking.

I believe there are studies where the gloves and other equipment were overlooked, but pushing this narrative and discrediting them all seems a bit too convenient for one particular interest group.

[–] Wheaties@hexbear.net 26 points 3 weeks ago

"We may be overestimating microplastics, but there should be none," said McNeil, senior author of the study and U-M professor of chemistry, macromolecular science and engineering, and the Program in the Environment. "There's still a lot out there, and that's the problem."