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Assessment and Analysis of Microplastics in Commercially Sold Bivalves from Los Baños, Laguna, and Lipa, Batangas, Philippines
Summary
Researchers extracted and characterized microplastics from three commercially sold bivalve species (green mussel, Manila clam, and freshwater clam) purchased at Philippine markets, finding contamination ranging from 0.52 to 2.94 microplastic particles per gram fresh weight with fibers being the most common type.
Microplastics were extracted from Perna viridis (Asian green mussel), Venerupis philippinarum (Manila clam), and Corbicula manilensis (“tulya”, a freshwater clam), which were bought from Los Baños, Laguna and Lipa, Batangas, Philippines commercial markets, using hydrogen peroxide digestion and density floatation. The isolated microplastics were verified and characterized using hot needle test and Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrometer. The microplastic concentration among these bivalves ranged from 0.52 ± 0.13 to 2.94 ± 0.65 MP/g FW and 1.50 ± 0.34 to 2.67 ± 0.66 MP/individual, which were compared to the values from existing studies. Fibers and fragments dominated the shape of the extracted microplastics. The possible types of microplastics identified were PP/EVA, PP, PP/PETE, PP/Nitrile, PU, dominated by LDPE/EVA using ATR-FTIR spectrometer. Their sources were linked to the origin of the samples namely Bacoor, Cavite and Lucena, Quezon. The implication of the level of microplastic pollution on the human diet was also analyzed to assess its risk on the consumers.