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Environmental hazard of polypropylene microplastics from disposable medical masks: acute toxicity towards Daphnia magna and current knowledge on other polypropylene microplastics
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Researchers assessed the acute toxicity of polypropylene microplastics derived from disposable medical masks to Daphnia magna water fleas. They found that mask-derived microplastics caused toxic effects at environmentally relevant concentrations. The study raises concerns that the massive increase in disposable face mask use during the pandemic has introduced a new source of harmful microplastic pollution into aquatic environments.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43591-021-00020-0.
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