Gloves Skew Microplastic Measurements

A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex lab gloves shed stearate particles that mimic polyethylene microplastics, producing thousands of false positives per square millimeter in both wet and dry sample preparation. Clean‑room gloves without stearates produce far fewer false positives, so changing consumables and protocols can materially change reported microplastic levels. — If routine lab contamination inflates microplastics counts, policy, cleanup priorities, and public alarm may be misdirected until measurement methods are standardized and corrected.