For many years microplastics have been a real fear for many people, and scientists have been running tests to see exactly how many microplastics are in different things. Recently though a University of Michigan researcher named Madeline Clough found something extremely concerning about how these tests are undertaken. The worry she had is about their gloves.
In all current literature in the microplastics field it is recommended to wear gloves while conducting research, but this may be contaminating the procedure as these gloves leave a residue. The worst part is that the residue is visually impossible to differentiate from the micoplastics.“If you are contacting a sample with a gloved hand, you’re likely imparting these stearates that could overestimate your results,” Clough said.
The only reason Clough found this was because she was collecting air samples to test the amount of microplastics and was alarmed by the extremely high amount of microplastics she had found. It was found that on average the results were off by about 2,000 microplastics per millimeter squared area. Out of all brands cleanroom gloves released the least amount of residue but they are also two to five times more expensive than the average medical or industrial gloves.
