An infographic claiming microplastic research is flawed because standard lab gloves shed stearate particles that cause up to 70x more false positives.

Infographic titled 'The microplastic numbers were wrong. The gloves were the source.' showing a bar chart comparing 7,000 false particles from standard nitrile gloves vs 100 from cleanroom gloves, with microscopic comparisons of stearate and polyethylene.

The microplastic numbers were wrong. The gloves were the source. New research shows common lab gloves shed particles that look exactly like microplastics— creating up to 70x more false positives. FALSE PARTICLES DETECTED (PER MM²) All identified as "microplastics." 7,000 STANDARD NITRILE GLOVES DIFFERENCE 70x more false particles with standard gloves 100 CLEANROOM GLOVES 1 THE TEST Scientists analyzed water samples for tiny plastic particles. 2 THE RESULT Standard gloves created up to 7,000 false particles per mm². Cleanroom gloves reduced this to about 100. STEARATE (from gloves) POLYETHYLENE (actual plastic) 2 μm 3 THE SOURCE Gloves shed stearate particles that are chemically identical to plastic in standard lab instruments. All 7 glove types tested were contaminated. | Affected size: <5 micrometers. STUDY Clough et al., University of Michigan RSC Analytical Methods (2026) RE-ANALYSIS Pironti et al., (2022): Actual intake ~100x lower CONTEXT Does not invalidate all research. Brain data (2025) used different methods. @agingroy