Fig. 4: Human inhalation exposure and health risk estimates for airborne micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs).
From: Composition, interactions and resulting inhalation risk of micro- and nano-plastics in urban air
a Daily inhalation estimates of PM10MNPs (Blue color), including fine microplastics (FMPs; orange color) and coarse microplastics (CMPs; green color), for adults under average urban exposure. Solid lines of each color represent the average daily intake of MNPs in the respective size fractions. b Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) plot depicting probabilistic distribution of MNPs intake, highlighting peak exposures of FMPs (orange curve) as compared to PM10MNPs (blue curve) and CMPs (green curve). c Relative Risk (RR) values for lung cancer (red color) and cardiopulmonary mortality (black color) linked to FMPs exposure across sampling days. Blue dashed line marks the RR = 1 threshold; error bars indicate variability in the measurements.
