Widespread occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in the environments has aroused the general concern of the world. However, direct evidence of the MPs exposure in human is still scarce. In this study, faeces samples were collected from children in Tianjin, China. By determining the concentrations of the depolymerized building block compounds, i.e., bisphenol A and <i>p</i>-phthalic acid, the amounts of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC) MPs in faeces samples were quantified. Widespread occurrence of MPs in faeces samples was observed, with concentration ranges of 0-223 μg/g for PET MPs (median: 18.7 μg/g) and 0-19 μg/g for PC MPs (median: 0.468 μg/g). In addition, positive correlation between the concentration of PET and PC MPs was found (Fig 1), indicating potential homology of these two MPs. It is the first report on the biomonitoring of MPs in human.

Occurrence of microplastics in human faeces of children in Tianjin, China

256th National Meeting (2018)

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