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What happens when you microwave that plastic bowl?

Tests show that certain types of plasticware give off high levels of microscopic plastic particles when heated in an microwave oven.
Directly above view of a Southeast Asian baby boy eating with his mother while sitting on a high chair.

Plastic food tubs can release billions of plastic nanoparticles in just a few minutes when microwaved. Credit: Karl Tapales/Getty

From table salt to tap water to fish, microplastics are turning up everywhere. Now, researchers have found that these tiny specks are released in huge quantities from plastic containers when they’re microwaved1.

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Nature 619, 11 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02091-w

References

  1. Hussain, K. A. et al. Environ. Sci. Tech. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c01942 (2023).

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