젖병 사용 유아, 미세플라스틱 백만개 이상 섭취한다_20201022

Bottle-fed babies ingest 'millions' of microplastics

2020-10-22

 

 

Bottle-fed babies may ingest more than a million pieces of microplastics each day, new research showed Monday highlighting the abundance of plastics in our food products.

젖병을 사용하는 유아들이 매일 100만개 이상의 미세플라스틱을 먹는다는 새로운 연구 결과가 월요일 나왔다.


There is growing evidence that humans consume huge numbers of the tiny particles, formed when larger pieces of plastic break down, but very little is known about the knock-on health consequences.

사람들이 플라스틱 조각들이 분해될 때 형성되는 이 작은 입자들을 엄청나게 많이 먹고 있다는 증거가 늘고 있지만, 건강에 미치는 연쇄적 영향에 대해서는 거의 알려진 게 없다.


Researchers in Ireland looked at the rate of microplastic released in 10 types of baby bottles made from polypropylene, the most commonly used plastic for food containers.

아일랜드의 연구팀은 식품 용기에 가장 많이 사용되는 플라스틱인 폴리프로필렌으로 만든 젖병 10가지의 미세 플라스틱 방출 비율을 조사했다.


Over a 21-day test period, the team found that the bottles released between 1.3 and 16.2 million plastic microparticles per liter when exposed to high temperatures.

21일간의 연구 동안, 연구팀은 이 젖병들이 높은 온도에 노출될 때 리터 당 130만개에서 1620만개의 플라스틱 미세입자를 방출한다는 것을 발견했다.


The study observed that the warmer the liquid inside, the more microplastics released.

이번 연구는 내부의 액체가 따뜻할수록, 미세플라스틱이 더 많이 나온다는 것을 확인했다.


They estimated that the average bottle-fed baby could be ingesting 1.6 million plastic microparticles every day during the first 12 months of their lives.

연구원들은 젖병을 사용하는 유아들이 첫 12개월 동안 매일 평균 160만 개의 미세 플라스틱을 섭취할 수 있다고 추정했다.


The authors of the research, published in the Nature Food journal, said that sterilization and exposure to high water temperatures had the biggest effect on microplastic release, going from 0.6 million particles per liter on average at 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) to 55 million per liter at 95 degrees Celsius. (AFP)

과학저널 ‘네이처 푸드’에 실린 이 연구의 저자들은 살균과 고온수 노출이 미세 플라스틱 방출에 가장 큰 영향을 미쳤다고 말했다. 섭씨 25도에서는 60만개의 플라스틱 입자가 나왔지만, 95도에서는 5500만개가 나왔다.


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