Indoor Airborne Microplastics: Sources, Human Exposure Pathways and Health Risks

Microplastics have become ubiquitous and are emerging as a potential health hazard. Microplastics are generally produced by degradation of larger plastic units which include kitchen items, building paints, fabrics, discarded plastic items, artificial turf, industrial abrasives and small plastic fibers released from synthetic clothes and carpets during use. In this technological era, where most of the time is spent indoors by human beings, these small microplastics generally in the size 1 nm–5 mm are inhaled directly into the human body through respiration, reach the alveoli present in lungs, enter the circulatory system thus posing potential health hazard which is a source of grave public concern. The toxic effects heavily depend upon contact time, chemical and physical properties of microplastics. Since the research on indoor microplastics and revealing its effect on human health is still in its infancy stage with many unsolved answers to predict their effect on human health. In this chapter, authors emphasized on the airborne indoor microplastics- their sources, their toxic effects on human organ/organoids, the factors affecting indoor microplastic pollution and challenges and mitigation Strategies in detail.