A new study from the University of Hull suggests microplastics can pass through blood vessels to vascular tissue - but it is not clear yet what the implications are for human health.
NSW will bring in a broad ban on single-use plastic items such as straws, cutlery and cotton buds from November 1 with all states and territories set to do likewise but at varying paces.
The UK s top toxicology experts have poured cold water on this panic. Much of the current research into the harms caused by microplastics, they say, is wildly unreliable.
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology analysed single-use hot beverage cups coated with a soft flexible plastic film often used as a waterproof liner.
Researchers from the University of Hull and Hull York Medical School found microplastics - tiny pieces of plastic less than 0.2 of an inch (5mm) in diameter - in the deepest section of the lung.