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Tea bags releasing 'millions' of microplastics into tea, study shows (www.dpa-international.com)

submitted 14 hours ago by schizoidman@lemm.ee to c/news@beehaw.org

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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/52242140

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[–] Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 5 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

When we're talking about molecules, millions is usually an extreme understatement. PPB (parts per billion) is a common measure for contaminants.

But PPB is still an enormous quantity. Remember Avogadro's number (used to relate count to grams) is on the 10^23 scale (aka thousands of billions of trillions). Even 999 million is a drop in the ocean there.

EDIT: The journal abstract lists the leached nanoparticles as 10^9 (trillions) per mL, and the uptake by human-derived intestine cells as 100 micrograms/mL. So yeah this is coverage by a journalist who can't math.