New Delhi, August 15, 2023: Taking over almost every area of our lives, plastics have now been found in the rainwater as well in Patna. In other words, plastics have been raining in Patna. This has been found in a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna (IIT Patna) which has found the presence of micro-plastics in rainwater samples from the city.
Conducted by Subrata Hait, an associate professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, IIT Patna, and Neha Parashar, a doctoral research scholar at the institute, the study has been published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
According to the researchers (Who had collected rain water samples from urban and peri-urban areas of Patna), the urban areas had 1959 Micro-plastics (MPs) per square meter each day. This number of micro-plastics has been second after Shanghai, China that has recorded 2644 MPs per square meter.
Earlier, such research has been conducted in countries like Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Canada, however, in India, it has been done for the first time.
Furthermore, in India, research have been conducted on the presence of micro-plastics in oceans and water bodies, however, it’s the first time that such study has been conducted on atmosphere.
As per the IIT Patna researchers, the findings are crucial as they represent a larger problem in India, as India ranked 12th among the countries with improper management of waste plastics and was projected to be fifth by 2025, said a study published in the journal Science in 2015.
What are micro-plastics?
Micro-plastics or MPs are minute plastic particles (smaller than 5 mm in diameter) that usually result from the breakdown of larger plastic particles. These micro-plastics are major environmental pollutants and pose great threat to human health as well.
Micro-plastics & Health Hazards
Studies have shown that MPs can cause or lead to lung inflammation and increase the probability of cancer, genetic mutations, and reproductive issues. These health issues result from the factor that the immune system is unable to flush out the plastic particles from the human body easily.
