HOW THE LIVE COUNTERS WORK

Flows & Model

The home-page counters multiply a chosen yearly flow of plastic by elapsed time, and each flow in model v7 is a value from one named study. This page lists every study behind the counters, the v6 values removed on 3 November 2026 with the reason, and the disputed estimates side by side. The counters are estimates, not measurements.

11 min readUpdated 2026-11-04ReviewedBWell supportedCLimitedDDisputedEUnknownPProvenance

NASA model visualization: white current lines and eddies swirling over the dark blue North Atlantic beside North America — Ocean surface currents around the Gulf Stream and the western North Atlantic from the ECCO2 ocean model (June 2005 to December 2007), visualized by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. A model visualization, not a photograph; it shows water, not plastic. Relief is exaggerated.NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization StudioNASASource ↗

Every live counter on the home page multiplies a yearly flow of plastic, in kilograms per second, by the seconds since you opened the page, since midnight or since 1 January. In model v7 each flow is the value of one named study, with its year, size window, population and pathway. You choose between studies, not between "low" and "high". The choice matters: the three global estimates of plastic emitted into the air that the model offers differ up to 2,100-fold (our calculation)¹^,².

≈2,100×

spread between the global air-emission estimates offered as presets

9.6 Mt/yr (2022 inverse model, 5–250 µm) vs 0.0045 Mt/yr (2026, 5–100 µm, scaled to measurements); size windows differ; estimates, not measurements; our calculation¹^,²

a 2026 preprint, 1.0 Mt/yr for 5–250 µm, lies between them (S-198)

DDisputed

≈310/day

corrected upper particle intake of Cox et al., the v7 default count

Americans, highest age-sex group; foods covering about 15% of calories plus inhalation; 113,000 particles/yr ÷ 365, our calculation³^,⁴

v6 used the uncorrected 121,000/yr (331/day)

CLimited

×1.2 million

gap between two published estimates of ingested plastic mass

0.004081 vs 5,000 mg/person/week; two 2021 model studies; our calculation⁵^,⁶

the 5 g/week end is contested (Pletz 2022) and is shown only as a comparison, never as a preset

DDisputed

What Σ adds up, and what it does not

The large home counter shows Σ, the sum of the selected air and water presets. With the v7 defaults Σ is 0.0045 + 1.7 = 1.7045 Mt a year, or 54.0 kg/s (level P). Soil is not in Σ: we found no global estimate of plastic entering soil each year (level E; search scope under Soil).

Σ is a scenario sum, not a measurement and not a mass balance. Air deposits onto water and soil, sea spray lifts ocean plastic back into the air, and wind lifts soil dust⁷. A particle can therefore count in more than one flow, and the model subtracts nothing. Σ is also neither plastic production (460 Mt in 2019) nor total leakage (22 Mt in 2019)⁸.

Σ is not a micro- and nanoplastic quantity either. Every water preset covers plastic of all sizes, mostly large debris, because we found no global estimate of micro- or nanoplastic entering the ocean. With the defaults, 99.7% of Σ is that all-size water input (our calculation). Human intake is never added: people take in particles from the same air, water and food.

Estimate

Reproduce one second (v7 defaults). (0.0045 + 1.7) Mt/year × 10⁹ kg/Mt ÷ 31,557,600 s/year = 54.01 kg/s. After one hour the main counter shows about 194 t. Human panel: 0.004081 mg/week × 10⁻⁶ kg/mg × 8,300,678,396 people ÷ 604,800 s/week = 0.056 g/s, about 1.8 t a year worldwide. Model v6 (medium scenario) gave 174.28 kg/s and 1.37 kg/s. The year is 365.25 days. Every figure here is a scenario estimate, not a measurement.

What the v7 counters add, and what they keep apart

Air and water boxes feed a sum; soil sits outside it with no global value; dashed arrows show air depositing onto water and soil; human intake by mass and by count sits apart and is not added. Source:¹^,⁹^,²^,⁸^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹²^,⁵^,³^,¹³^,⁷Nanoplastics ObservatorySite original

Data table

label	value	unit
Air → Σ	0.0045 (default, Evangelou 2026); alternatives 1.001 (Tichý 2026, preprint), 9.6 (Evangeliou 2022)	Mt/year
Water (all sizes) → Σ	1.7 (default, OECD 2019); alternatives 0.5 (Kaandorp 2023), 0.8 and 2.7 (Meijer 2021)	Mt/year
Soil (not in Σ)	no global estimate; regional reference 0.063–0.43 (Europe, sewage sludge)	Mt/year
Σ, defaults	1.7045 = 54.0 kg/s	Mt/year
Overlap: air deposits onto water and soil; sea spray and dust return particles to air	not quantified in the model
Human intake, mass (separate, not added)	0.004081 (default, adults); 0.001288 (children)	mg/person/week
Human intake, count (separate, no counter)	310 (default, Cox corrected); 203; 68,000; 71,200	particles/person/day

Each flow is a choice between named studies

Each table lists the selectable presets for one flow, default first. The level grades the finding behind the value, using the rubric on Evidence Levels. Where a study reports a range, a preset uses a stated end of it, never an invented midpoint or confidence bound.

Air: three estimates that disagree

Preset	Mt/year	Size	Basis	Level
Evangelou 2026 (default)¹	0.0045 (0.0006–0.0089)	5–100 µm	inventory scaled to 2,782 measurements	C
Tichý 2026, preprint⁹	1.001 ± 0.781	5–250 µm	inversion of remote deposition data	C
Evangeliou 2022²	9.6 ± 3.6	5–250 µm	inversion of western US deposition	C

The magnitude of global air emissions is disputed (level D). Evangelou and colleagues (2026) compared size-aligned models with 2,782 measurements of air concentration and deposition from 76 studies at 283 sites. The models overestimated measured median concentrations by two to four orders of magnitude. Scaled to the measurements, emissions are 0.0045 Mt a year: about 0.0005 Mt from land and 0.004 Mt from the ocean¹.

Tichý and colleagues estimate 1.0 Mt a year, 0.76 Mt of it from the ocean, in a preprint under review (checked 3 November 2026)⁹. They argue that assumptions about particle size, density and shape drive mass estimates and explain the spread between inventories. The 2022 value is an earlier inverse model fitted to western US deposition data². It is a historical alternative, not an upper bound, and excludes the microfibers reported separately.

Each preset is graded C, as one study's model result for its own size window; the preprint label stays with Tichý. The air flow is graded D, because the three estimates disagree by up to about 2,100-fold and the dispute is unresolved. Part of the gap is the size windows, 5–100 µm against 5–250 µm: larger particles carry far more mass, so the estimates do not describe the same population. The home page shows both grades, as does Atmosphere¹^,⁹^,².

Water: plastic of all sizes entering the ocean

Preset	Mt/year	Size	Basis	Level
OECD, 2019 (default)⁸	1.7	all sizes	all pathways into the ocean, model	C
Kaandorp 2023¹⁰	0.5	0.1–1,600 mm, floating	3D mass budget, about 2020	C
Meijer 2021, lower end¹¹	0.8	all sizes	rivers only, model	C
Meijer 2021, upper end¹¹	2.7	all sizes	rivers only, model	C

No preset measures micro- or nanoplastic. v6 called this flow "micro- and nanoplastic", yet its one traceable value, 0.8, is the lower end of an all-size river estimate¹¹. The OECD default is the only listed estimate covering all polymers and all pathways for a stated year; of 6.1 Mt leaked into all waters in 2019, 1.7 Mt reached the ocean⁸. The studies define the flow differently, so their spread is not an uncertainty range.

Soil: no global estimate

We found no global estimate of plastic entering soil each year (level E; searched the site registry of 379 sources and the web for 2015–2026 on 3 November 2026). The nearest figure is regional and covers one pathway: sewage sludge may deliver 63,000–430,000 t of microplastic a year to European farmland (2016 estimate, level C)¹². v7 shows it only as a labeled reference and adds nothing for soil to Σ.

Human intake, mass

Preset	mg/person/week	Size	Basis	Level
Mohamed Nor 2021, adults (default)⁵	0.004081	1–5,000 µm	8 food types plus air, model	C
Mohamed Nor 2021, children⁵	0.001288	1–5,000 µm	same model	C

The presets are graded C as single-model results; the flow itself is graded D, because published mass estimates differ about 1.2 million-fold and the high estimate is contested (see Disputed estimates below)⁵^,⁶.

The adult value is the model's median, 583 ng a day, times seven (our calculation)⁵. The global panel multiplies it by everyone alive, which extends an adult rate to children; the child median is selectable for that reason. The contested 5 g/week estimate appears below as a comparison, not as a preset.

Human intake, particle count

Preset	Particles/person/day	Size	Basis	Level
Cox 2019, corrected, top (default)³	310	not size-resolved	US diet (about 15% of calories) plus air	C
Cox 2019, corrected, bottom³	203	not size-resolved	same	C
Yakovenko 2025, adults¹³	68,000 ± 40,000	1–10 µm	indoor inhalation, extrapolated	C
Yakovenko 2025, adults¹³	71,200	1–300 µm	our sum of 68,000 and 3,200	C

Cox and colleagues estimated 74,000–121,000 particles a year including inhalation, depending on age and sex. Their 2020 correction lowers the top to 113,000, about 310 a day (our calculation)³^,¹⁴^,⁴. They covered about 15% of American caloric intake and call their figures likely underestimates. Yakovenko and colleagues extrapolated adult indoor inhalation from 12 air samples in Toulouse homes and cars plus published data¹³. Neither is total intake.

Counts and mass are separate models. A sphere's mass grows with the cube of its diameter, so a 100 µm particle weighs a million times more than a 1 µm particle of the same polymer (level P). The site never converts one into the other, and no v7 counter displays counts.

Sliders are hypothetical controls

v7 keeps a slider only for air and water, labeled "hypothetical control". Its endpoints are the lowest and highest values the named studies report: 0.0006–13.2 Mt a year for air and 0.5–2.7 Mt a year for water (level P). A value set there is your own assumption, not a study result or an uncertainty interval. The soil and both human sliders are removed: their v6 endpoints had no source, and the human mass maximum was the contested 5 g/week.

Every v7 preset on its own scale (log)

Dots and range bars on log scales, grouped by flow: the three air estimates span about three orders of magnitude, the water estimates a factor of five, the human count presets a factor of about 350. Source:¹^,⁹^,²^,⁸^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹²^,⁵^,³^,¹³Nanoplastics ObservatorySite original

Data table

label	value	unit	low	high	size_window	level	source_id
Air · Evangelou 2026 (default)	0.0045	Mt/year	0.0006	0.0089	5–100 µm	C	S-052
Air · Tichý 2026 (preprint)	1.001	Mt/year	0.22	1.782	5–250 µm	C	S-198
Air · Evangeliou 2022	9.6	Mt/year	6	13.2	5–250 µm	C	S-199
Water · OECD 2019 (default)	1.7	Mt/year			all sizes	C	S-011
Water · Kaandorp 2023	0.5	Mt/year			0.1–1,600 mm, floating	C	S-071
Water · Meijer 2021, rivers, lower end	0.8	Mt/year			all sizes	C	S-069
Water · Meijer 2021, rivers, upper end	2.7	Mt/year			all sizes	C	S-069
Soil · Europe, sewage sludge, lower end (reference only)	0.063	Mt/year			microplastic	C	S-082
Soil · Europe, sewage sludge, upper end (reference only)	0.43	Mt/year			microplastic	C	S-082
Human mass · Mohamed Nor 2021, adults (default)	0.004081	mg/person/week			1–5,000 µm	C	S-103
Human mass · Mohamed Nor 2021, children	0.001288	mg/person/week			1–5,000 µm	C	S-103
Human count · Cox 2019 corrected, top (default)	309.6	particles/person/day			not size-resolved	C	S-101
Human count · Cox 2019 corrected, bottom	202.7	particles/person/day			not size-resolved	C	S-101
Human count · Yakovenko 2025, 1–10 µm	68000	particles/person/day	28000	108000	1–10 µm	C	S-063
Human count · Yakovenko 2025, 1–300 µm	71200	particles/person/day			1–300 µm	C	S-063

Disputed estimates, compared but not counted

Study	mg/person/week	Scope	Role in v7
Mohamed Nor 2021⁵	0.004081	adult median, 1–5,000 µm, model	default preset
Senathirajah 2021⁶	100–5,000	global average, 0–1 mm, counts × average mass	comparison only
Pletz 2022¹⁵	none	critique of Senathirajah 2021	comparison only

Human intake by mass is disputed (level D). Senathirajah and colleagues converted particle counts from 59 publications into mass with an average particle mass and obtained 0.1–5 g a week. They describe their assumptions as conservative and the estimate as a first step toward risk assessment⁶. Pletz (2022) traces the gap to how sizes and particle masses were combined and concludes the estimate is too high by several orders of magnitude¹⁵.

v6 offered that range as two scenarios: 5,000 mg as "high" and 100 mg, its bottom, as "medium". v7 keeps it only in this table. For air, all three estimates stay selectable because each is a defensible study result for its own size window; the dispute is stated beside them.

142,000 or 142 particles a day?

v6 set its high count scenario at 142,000 particles per person per day, with no source. Two readings fit the number, and the v6 code records neither (level P)¹⁶.

The first reading is a unit slip. The upper ingestion-only estimate of Cox and colleagues, 52,000 particles a year, is 142 a day (our calculation)³; the corrected release changes only the range that includes inhalation⁴. The second reading is a deliberate choice: 142,000 is exactly twice the v6 medium of 71,000, a doubling with no study behind it.

Either way the value is removed. v7 does not adopt 142 a day, because a diet-only US estimate and an indoor inhalation model describe different pathways and cannot be ends of one control.

Constants and context values

Value	v7	Scope	Level
Population¹⁷	8,300.7 million	world, 1 July 2026, UN WPP 2024 medium variant; held fixed	P
Population change¹⁷	68.9 million/yr	2026; documented, not applied	P
Year	31,557,600 s	365.25 days	P
1 Mt/year	31.69 kg/s	our calculation	P
Production⁸	460 Mt/yr	global, 2019	B
Leakage⁸	22 Mt/yr	all sizes, 2019; 12% microplastic = 2.64 Mt	C
Ocean stock⁸	30 Mt	modeled accumulation to 2019	C
River and lake stock⁸	109 Mt	modeled accumulation to 2019	C
North Atlantic nanoplastic¹⁸	27 Mt	PET, PS, PVC below 1 µm, mixed layer, one 2020 cruise, extrapolated	C
Blood¹⁹	1.6 µg/mL	mean, 22 Dutch donors, ≥ 700 nm, 2022	D
Brain²⁰	4.9 mg/g	median, frontal cortex, 2024 samples	D
Indoor air¹³	528 /m³	median, 7 homes, Toulouse, 1–10 µm	C
Car cabin air¹³	2,238 /m³	median, 5 car cabins, same study	C

The 30 Mt ocean stock and the 3.2 Mt of Kaandorp and colleagues are different inventories. The OECD figure is a modeled accumulation of leaked waste; the 3.2 Mt is plastic that floated on entry, 0.1–1,600 mm, in 2020, from coastlines to the deep ocean¹⁰. Neither is a nanoplastic census, and the site neither adds nor subtracts them.

Blood and brain values are disputed (level D). Rauert and colleagues found py-GC/MS unsuitable for polyethylene and PVC in blood because lipids interfere²¹, and the Leslie group has since published a revised workflow²². A Matters Arising questions the brain digestion and specificity²³, and the authors defend their data²⁴. Both sides are on Human Body.

Revision record, 3 November 2026

Model v6 (evidence snapshot 14 October 2026) is replaced by model v7 under the owner's decision of 3 November 2026. The home page has run v7 since 4 November 2026. Every v6 value and its fate (level P)¹⁶:

v6 value	v7 disposition	Reason
Water low 0.8 Mt/yr	kept, Meijer 2021 lower end	traced; relabeled all sizes, rivers
Water mid 1.5 Mt/yr	removed	no source; OECD 1.7 added separately
Water high 2.5 Mt/yr	removed	no source; Meijer upper end 2.7 added
Air low 0.2 Mt/yr	removed	no source
Air mid 1.0 Mt/yr	removed	no source; Tichý preprint added as its own preset
Air high 9.6 Mt/yr	kept, Evangeliou 2022	historical model, not an upper bound
Soil 1.0 / 3.0 / 7.0 Mt/yr	removed	no global estimate; soil leaves Σ
Human mass low 0.0041 mg/wk	kept as 0.004081	Mohamed Nor median, unrounded
Human mass mid 100 mg/wk	removed	bottom of a contested range
Human mass high 5,000 mg/wk	comparison only	contested (Pletz 2022)
Count low 331/day	corrected to 310/day	Cox correction, 113,000/yr
Count mid 71,000/day	two Yakovenko presets	unrecorded rounding of 68,000 + 3,200
Count high 142,000/day	removed	no source; two readings above
All ten slider endpoints	air and water rebuilt; others removed	no recorded basis
"Ocean, all plastic" 9.5 Mt/yr	removed	no source; OECD 1.7 and 6.1 Mt are defined otherwise
"Plastic in a brain" 7 g	removed	whole-organ extrapolation of a cortex median
Eight comparison masses (card to Eiffel Tower)	removed	unsourced, never displayed
Population 8.30 × 10⁹	8,300,678,396	UN WPP 2024, 1 July 2026
Growth 69 million/yr	documented, not applied	never applied in v6

The machine-readable model, with every preset, conversion factor, removed value and reason, is published as a download: counter-model.json, model v7 of 3 November 2026, available with this page since 4 November 2026 (level P)¹⁶. The claims ledgers and verifier verdicts behind this page are not yet published; that download is planned.

What kind of number is each v7 entry?

Grid sorting every v7 entry into peer-reviewed model, preprint, agency model, extrapolation, measurement, official projection, not established or removed. Source:⁸^,¹^,¹³^,¹⁸^,¹¹^,¹⁰^,¹²^,¹⁹^,²⁰^,³^,⁵^,⁶^,⁹^,²^,¹⁷^,⁴Nanoplastics ObservatorySite original

Data table

label	value	source_id
Air: Evangelou 2026 (default), Evangeliou 2022	model estimate, peer reviewed, disputed	S-052, S-199
Air: Tichý 2026	model estimate, preprint, disputed	S-198
Water: OECD 2019 (default)	agency model estimate	S-011
Water: Kaandorp 2023, Meijer 2021	model estimate, peer reviewed	S-071, S-069
Soil: global input	not established
Soil: Europe, sewage sludge (reference)	model estimate, regional	S-082
Human mass: Mohamed Nor 2021	model estimate	S-103
Human mass: Senathirajah 2021	model estimate, contested, comparison only	S-104
Human count: Cox 2019 corrected	model estimate	S-101, S-275
Human count: Yakovenko 2025	extrapolation from measurements	S-063
Population, change, seconds, conversions	official projection, definition, arithmetic	S-274
Context: production, leakage, stocks	agency model estimate	S-011
Context: North Atlantic nanoplastic 27 Mt	extrapolation from measurements	S-067
Context: blood, brain (disputed); indoor and car air	measurement	S-087, S-092, S-063
Removed: 9 v6 scenario values, 10 slider endpoints, 9.5 Mt/yr, 7 g, 8 comparison masses	removed, no source

Structure of counter model v7: one named study preset per flow, air and water summed into Σ, soil outside Σ with no global value, and human intake by mass and count kept apart.Nanoplastics ObservatorySite original

Versioning and corrections

Any later change to a value creates a new model version and a dated row in the record above, with the old value, the new value, the reason and the source. We plan a public corrections log on Corrections & Contact; no reader corrections have been recorded yet.

In v6 the page address accepted ?scenario=low, mid or high and numeric ocean=, air=, soil=, human= and particles=. v7, live since 4 November 2026, keeps lang, base and lite. It takes preset ids for air, ocean, human and particles, such as ?air=tichy2026_preprint; air and ocean also accept a number inside their hypothetical ranges, which sets "custom (hypothetical)". scenario and soil are retired, and an unknown or out-of-range value keeps the default with a console warning (level P)¹⁶.

For the science behind each flow, see Atmosphere, Oceans, Soil and Human Body. For reading numbers in general, see How to Read the Numbers; for sources, Methods & Sources; for the home counters, Planet Overview.

Sources

Evangelou I, Bucci S, Stohl A (2026). Atmospheric microplastic emissions from land and ocean. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09998-6 journal article
Evangeliou N, Tichý O, Eckhardt S, Zwaaftink CG, Brahney J (2022). Sources and fate of atmospheric microplastics revealed from inverse and dispersion modelling: From global emissions to deposition. Journal of Hazardous Materials 432:128585. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128585 journal article open access
Cox KD, Covernton GA, Davies HL, Dower JF, Juanes F, Dudas SE (2019). Human Consumption of Microplastics. Environmental Science & Technology. doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b01517 journal article
American Chemical Society (2019). Estimating microplastic consumption (news release, with correction notice for Cox et al. 2019). EurekAlert! (AAAS), news release 893063. www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/893063 press open access
Mohamed Nor NH, Kooi M, Diepens NJ, Koelmans AA (2021). Lifetime Accumulation of Microplastic in Children and Adults. Environmental Science & Technology. doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c07384 journal article
Senathirajah K, Attwood S, Bhagwat G, Carbery M, Wilson S, Palanisami T (2021). Estimation of the mass of microplastics ingested – A pivotal first step towards human health risk assessment. Journal of Hazardous Materials. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124004 journal article
Brahney J, Mahowald N, Prank M, Cornwell G, Klimont Z, Matsui H et al. (2021). Constraining the atmospheric limb of the plastic cycle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.2020719118 journal article
OECD (2022). Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options. OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/de747aef-en report open access
Tichý O, Košík V, Eckhardt S, Evangeliou N, Šmídl V (2026). Global continental and oceanic emissions of atmospheric microplastics inferred from pattern-restricted Bayesian inversion. EGUsphere (preprint, open for discussion, not peer reviewed). doi:10.5194/egusphere-2026-5158 Preprint · not peer reviewed open access
Kaandorp MLA, Lobelle D, Kehl C, Dijkstra HA, van Sebille E (2023). Global mass of buoyant marine plastics dominated by large long-lived debris. Nature Geoscience. doi:10.1038/s41561-023-01216-0 journal article
Meijer LJJ, van Emmerik T, van der Ent R, Schmidt C, Lebreton L (2021). More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean. Science Advances. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz5803 journal article open access
Nizzetto L, Futter M, Langaas S (2016). Are Agricultural Soils Dumps for Microplastics of Urban Origin?. Environmental Science & Technology. doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b04140 journal article
Yakovenko N, Pérez-Serrano L, Segur T, Hagelskjaer O, Margenat H, Le Roux G et al. (2025). Human exposure to PM10 microplastics in indoor air. PLOS One. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0328011 journal article open access
Cox KD, Covernton GA, Davies HL, Dower JF, Juanes F, Dudas SE (2020). Correction to Human Consumption of Microplastics. Environmental Science & Technology. doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c04032 journal article
Pletz M (2022). Ingested microplastics: Do humans eat one credit card per week?. Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters 3:100071. doi:10.1016/j.hazl.2022.100071 journal article open access
Nanoplastics planetary observatory (2026). Home counter model of the Nanoplastics planetary observatory: v6 script (NP object) and v7 specification (counter-model.json). Nanoplastics planetary observatory (site methodology record). Download from this site site record open access
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024: Demographic Indicators, medium variant (WPP2024_Demographic_Indicators_Medium.csv). United Nations. population.un.org/wpp/ dataset open access
ten Hietbrink S, Materić D, Holzinger R, Groeskamp S, Niemann H (2025). Nanoplastic concentrations across the North Atlantic. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09218-1 journal article
Leslie HA, van Velzen MJM, Brandsma SH, Vethaak AD, Garcia-Vallejo JJ, Lamoree MH (2022). Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood. Environment International. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2022.107199 journal article open access
Nihart AJ, Garcia MA, El Hayek E, Liu R, Olewine M, Kingston JD et al. (2025). Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains. Nature Medicine. doi:10.1038/s41591-024-03453-1 journal article
Rauert C, Charlton N, Bagley A, Dunlop SA, Symeonides C, Thomas KV (2025). Assessing the Efficacy of Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry for Nanoplastic and Microplastic Analysis in Human Blood. Environmental Science & Technology. doi:10.1021/acs.est.4c12599 journal article open access
Nardella F, Brits M, van Velzen MJM, Scibetta L, Durkin A, Vermeulen R et al. (2025). Advancing pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the accurate quantification of micro- and nanoplastics in human blood. Microplastics and Nanoplastics. doi:10.1186/s43591-025-00152-7 journal article open access
Abdolahpur Monikh F, Materić D, Valsami-Jones E, Grossart HP, Altmann K, Holzinger R et al. (2025). Challenges in studying microplastics in human brain. Nature Medicine. doi:10.1038/s41591-025-04045-3 journal article
Campen MJ, West AB, Garcia M, Gullapalli R, El Hayek E (2025). Reply to: Challenges in studying microplastics in human brain. Nature Medicine. doi:10.1038/s41591-025-04046-2 journal article

Evidence levels and provenance

AConsensus: Multiple independent studies or a systematic review plus a statement by a scientific body.
BWell supportedUsed on this page: Several independent studies with concordant findings.
CLimitedUsed on this page: Few studies, narrow conditions, or methodological caveats.
DDisputedUsed on this page: Conflicting results; both sides are shown.
EUnknownUsed on this page: No reliable evidence found; the search scope is stated.

PProvenanceUsed on this page: Provenance: checked against the primary record. A separate category, not an evidence grade: used for bibliographic facts, legal texts, official metadata, definitions quoted from a standard, the site's own arithmetic and statements about the site's process.

Editorial categories of this site. A–E grade scientific findings, per claim, with a one-line rationale; D and E are not lower rungs of the A–C scale. P is not a grade: it marks facts checked against their primary record.