MOMENTUM gets extra funding for research on microplastics

The Ministries of Infrastructure and Water Management and Health, Welfare and Sport are providing an additional 500,000 euros for research into the effects of microplastics on our health. The extra funding will be integrated in the research of MOMENTUM. 

Research within ZonMw’s Microplastics and Health programme shows that small plastic particles from our environment can end up in the human body and may have disruptive effects on our immune system, for example. MOMENTUM builds on these findings with the aim of determining and ultimately preventing the effects of micro and nanoplastic particles on human health. Additional funding from the MoreMOMENTUM project will be used to expand this research in three key areas:

1. Determine the main sources from which people are exposed to micro and nanoplastic particles (MNPs), compared to organisms in the environment;
2. Investigating which and how many MNPs occur in samples of human tissues;
3. Comparing the health effects of MNPs and of other small particles.