The article published in the journal Nature shows the presence and concentrations of nanoplastics in the North Atlantic, highlighting that the total amount of nanoplastics found is in the same range or exceeds previous estimates of macroplastics and microplastics for the entire Atlantic. They therefore suggest that nanoplastics constitute the dominant fraction of marine plastic pollution, representing the largest fraction of plastic mass in the ocean.

Although a large number of scientific studies have been conducted on the environmental problem of microplastics, fewer studies have focused on nanoplastics, which are of greater interest because the smaller the plastic particle size, the greater its toxicity. Nanoplastics have a greater ability to cross biological barriers and accumulate in living organisms, including humans.

However, it should be noted that the fact that there are fewer studies on nanoplastics is partly due to the difficulty in establishing methodologies for their analysis. The authors themselves mention possible overestimates due to false positives caused by the presence of organic matter from algae. They also point out the strangeness of not having detected either polyethylene or polypropylene, when these two polymers are the most common found in floating plastic in seas and oceans.

To date, there is no consensus on how to determine and quantify microplastics, let alone nanoplastics. The authors make estimates of nanoplastics levels and compare them with previous studies on microplastics, without mentioning the problem of comparing data obtained using different analytical methods.

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