Are you inhaling microplastics?

Everyone knows cigarettes are full of chemicals: nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, and a long list of others you probably do not want anywhere near your lungs.

Now researchers are wondering whether smokers are also inhaling plastic.

A new study published in the European Heart Journal found that people with a history of smoking were almost six times as likely to have microplastics in their blood. Smoking was the only factor that still predicted the presence of microplastics after researchers adjusted for heart disease, inflammation, air pollution, and other variables.

The study looked at 61 patients undergoing heart procedures at two hospitals in Italy. Nineteen were suffering serious heart attacks, 20 had chronic coronary disease, and 22 had normal coronary arteries. Researchers found microplastics in 84.2% of the heart