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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
Adults ingest 2,000 pieces of plastic from salt each year
    2018-10-25  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

A study published Oct. 16 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found microplastics in more than 90 percent of the packaged food-grade salt — also known as table salt — for sale in stores.

The team, from South Korea’s Incheon National University and Greenpeace East Asia, sampled 39 brands of salt harvested in 21 countries and regions. Only three of the samples had no detectable microplastics.

Microplastics are virtually everywhere. Sea salt and lake salt are made by evaporating water and harvesting the salt that remains. Plastic waste flows from rivers into those bodies of water, so it’s no surprise that the salt contains traces of it too. Scientists have been finding microplastics in salt for years, including in salt from countries and regions in Asia, Europe and Africa.

Salt made in Asia had by far the most microplastics of all the samples, which correlates with where plastic most often enters the ocean. Nine of the top 10 sea salts sampled with the highest amount of microplastics came from Asia.

“The results indicate that not only is Asia a hot spot of global plastic pollution, as previous studies have suggested, but also that sea salt can be a good indicator of the magnitude of [microplastics] pollution in the surrounding marine environment,” the researchers write.

Based on their results, the researchers estimate that the average adult ingests about 2,000 pieces of microplastic in salt per year. But, they write, that still only represents a fraction of the microplastics a person is likely to consume.

Previous research revealed that microplastics have also been found in tap water, mollusks, and both indoor and outdoor air. All together, those four pathways add up to an average 32,000 pieces of microplastic ingested per year per person. Inhaling microplastics in the air is by far the largest contributor — people ingest roughly 80 percent of the microplastics that enters their bodies through this route.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【可检出的】kějiǎnchū de detectable capable of being detected

【软体动物】ruǎntǐ dòngwù mollusk any invertebrate of the phylum Mollusca, typically having a calcareous shell of one, two, or more pieces that wholly or partly enclose the soft body

美国《环境科学与技术》月刊10月16日发表的一篇研究报告发现,商店里出售的包装食品级盐(即食盐)中,有超过90%含有微塑料。

韩国仁川国立大学和绿色和平东亚分部的研究团队对21个国家和地区的39份食盐进行了取样分析,只有3个样品没有可检测到的微塑料。

微塑料实际上无处不在。

海盐和湖盐都是通过将水分蒸发掉,获得剩下的盐分。废塑料从河流进入水体,因此食盐里也含有微量塑料就不奇怪了。多年来,科学家已在来自亚洲、欧洲和非洲各地的食盐中发现了微塑料。

到目前为止,所有样品中含微塑料最多的食盐均出自亚洲,这与亚洲的塑料通常流入大海有关。10种微塑料含量最高的食盐中有9种都来自亚洲。

研究人员写道:“研究结果不仅表明,亚洲是全球塑料污染最严重的危险地区 —— 就像以前的研究所显示的那样,同时也表明海盐是衡量周边海洋环境(微塑

料)污染程度的一个很好的指针。”

研究人员根据研究结果估计,一个成年人平均每年仅通过食盐就吃进约2000粒微塑料。不过,这可能只占一个人微塑料摄入量的很小一部分。

此前研究显示,自来水、软体动物和室内外空气中都含有微塑料。

再加上食盐,一个成年人平均每年从以上4种途径中摄入3.2万粒微塑料。从空气中吸入微塑料目前来看占比最大,人们摄入的微塑料中有大约80%都是空气吸入的。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)

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