Removing microplastics: possible, necessary or just the latest celebrity trend?

Services claiming to clear microplastics from people's bodies have begun to crop up. But how effective are they? An expert explains...

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The actor Orlando Bloom recently made headlines when he reportedly paid £10,000 ($13,600) to have his blood removed so that any microplastics in it could be separated and filtered out. His decision to pay for this drastic treatment highlights the growing worry over an unsettling truth: there's simply no avoiding these minuscule particles of plastic.

They're everywhere, from the top of Mount Everest to the inside of our brains, according to some studies. They're also all over the media and, understandably, the perceived danger of having microscopic flakes of plastic floating around inside us has raised public and scientific concern.

Microplastics are often linked to disease, but the testing for them and their effects is still at an early stage and no scientific consensus has been reached. So should we be worried about what they're doing to our bodies? And should we be queuing up to get our blood 'cleaned'?

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The term 'microplastic' describes any plastic particle or fibre measuring less than 5mm (0.19in) in size. Typically, these particles are so small that we need a microscope to see them.

Scientists also use the term 'nanoplastic' to describe even smaller particles, which is less than 0.001mm (around 40 microinches). These are challenging to see even with advanced microscopes, but evidence suggests they could be released from plastic materials and into their surrounding environment.

Part of my research group's work has been to measure the levels of plastic and other particles in the air we breathe. In London, we've seen microplastics in the air pollution small enough to travel deep into our lungs.