And if you redecorate your home and sand down the old paintwork, the plastic binders in the paint can release microplastics into the air, which you might then inhale. You could swallow them when you drink from single-use plastic water bottles. Now another source of microplastics in the body has been discovered: chewing gum.

Now you can add your favorite chewing gum to the list, thanks to the alarming findings of a new study. Chewing gum, whether natural or synthetic, contains plant-based or synthetic plastic polymers to enhance texture and flavor retention,

Chewing gum can secrete tiny plastic particles into saliva and bloodstreams, scientists in the US and China say, pointing to the latest source of microplastics in the human body. In a paper presented at the American Chemical Society (ACS) spring meeting on March 25,