Overview
Air pollution is a public health and environmental concern for its well-documented damaging effects, which primarily revolve around pollutants such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide. Nevertheless, an emerging area of worry in this sector involves the presence and impact of microplastics in the air. Recent researches show that airborne microplastics are widespread contaminants found in almost every part of the environment hence may be contributing to air pollution in ways we barely understand. Microplastics stand for tiny plastic fragments measuring less than five millimeters across that result from many sources including degradation of bigger plastic wastes, synthetic fibers from clothing, car tire abrasion among others. When they are airborne however, these particles can travel over very long distances through wind currents and go deep into human lungs even penetrating further to enter the bloodstream. The actual impacts from inhaling microplastic particles are not yet well understood though initial studies suggest that they might cause inflammation or transport other pollutants into the body cells. On an environmental front, aerial microplastics could alter climate change by affecting atmospheric processes like cloud formation and solar radiation patterns etc.