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    Plastic Teabags Release Billions of Microparticles and Nanoparticles into Tea
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    • Laura M. Hernandez
      Laura M. Hernandez
      Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada
      More by Laura M. Hernandez
    • Elvis Genbo Xu
      Elvis Genbo Xu
      Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada
      More by Elvis Genbo Xu
    • Hans C. E. Larsson
      Hans C. E. Larsson
      Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C4, Canada
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    • Rui Tahara
      Rui Tahara
      Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C4, Canada
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    • Vimal B. Maisuria
      Vimal B. Maisuria
      Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada
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    • Nathalie Tufenkji*
      Nathalie Tufenkji
      Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada
      *Phone: (514) 398-2999. Fax: (514) 398-6678. E-mail: [email protected]
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      Orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-1546-3441
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    Environmental Science & Technology

    Cite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2019, 53, 21, 12300–12310
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    https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b02540
    Published September 25, 2019
    Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society
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    Abstract

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    The increasing presence of micro- and nano-sized plastics in the environment and food chain is of growing concern. Although mindful consumers are promoting the reduction of single-use plastics, some manufacturers are creating new plastic packaging to replace traditional paper uses, such as plastic teabags. The objective of this study was to determine whether plastic teabags could release microplastics and/or nanoplastics during a typical steeping process. We show that steeping a single plastic teabag at brewing temperature (95 °C) releases approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup of the beverage. The composition of the released particles is matched to the original teabags (nylon and polyethylene terephthalate) using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The levels of nylon and polyethylene terephthalate particles released from the teabag packaging are several orders of magnitude higher than plastic loads previously reported in other foods. An initial acute invertebrate toxicity assessment shows that exposure to only the particles released from the teabags caused dose-dependent behavioral and developmental effects.

    Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society

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    The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b02540.

    • Information on control experiments; details for Daphnia magna swimming assay, immobility and body size, X-ray CT scanning, and optical imaging; details on ICP-MS measurements of aluminum, arsenic, chromium and lead in leachates and teabags (PDF)

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    Cite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2019, 53, 21, 12300–12310
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