News
MOMENTUM Consortium Meeting
It was great to welcome our MOMENTUM partners for the consortium meeting in Utrecht over the past two days. All work packages and breakthrough projects ...
Stakeholder dialogue about microplastics
Participants from more than 40 different organisations, representing universities, research institutes, industry, ministries, and interests groups, came ...
MOMENTUM Solutions Roadmap
In MOMENTUM, we aim to unravel the human health effects of micro- and nanoplastics and find solutions. MOMENTUM partners have developed a roadmap featuring ...
Can nanoplastics transfer through the food chain?
MOMENTUM partners at Leiden University explored this question by monitoring the uptake and transfer of tiny plastic particles from water through lettuce to ...
How dangerous are microplastics? Experts answer questions
How dangerous are microplastics? And why would they affect your health? Dutch news programme EenVandaag asked these and other questions to MOMENTUM ...
MOMENTUM research at Betweter Festival
MOMENTUM researcher Nienke Vrisekoop from UMC Utrecht performed at the recent Betweter Festival in Utrecht! Nienke talked about microplastics and what we ...
Micro2024 conference on plastic pollution
MOMENTUM researchers Laurens Mandemaker and Annemijne van den Berg were present at the MICRO 2024 conference on plastic pollution in Lanzarote. Laurens ...
Juliette Legler wins EUROTOX 2024 Lecture Award
We’re excited to share some MOMENTUM highlights from EUROTOX Congress 2024, the annual congress of European societies of toxicology, held in Copenhagen ...
Should we ban plastics to save our health?
MOMENTUM’s Nienke Vrisekoop discussed this question on Dutch radio channel NPO Radio 1 last night. She was the main guest in the radio show “De ...
Momentum research on Dutch radio
Following the recent publication of her group, MOMENTUM researcher Marja Lamoree was interviewed by Dutch radio show “Met het Oog op Morgen”. In their ...
MOMENTUM Consortium Meeting
Our consortium meeting was a great success! We’ve had two days full of inspiring talks, useful discussions, and two poster sessions putting the spotlight ...
Presence of micro- and nanoplastics in human blood confirmed
A new study by MOMENTUM partners at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Amsterdam University Medical Center confirms the presence of micro- and ...
Meet the Crew: Irene Gosselink
Who is Irene Gosselink? “I’m a PhD candidate at Maastricht University and TNO, almost entering my final year. My background is quite diverse. I studied ...
In Memoriam Dick Vethaak
Prof. Dr. Dick Vethaak, our dear colleague, friend and co-coordinator of MOMENTUM, passed away on June 1, 2024. An international expert in the field of ...
Do you eat a credit card of plastic every week?
MOMENTUM researcher Nelly Saenen talks about her microplastics research in an educational video by Universiteit van Vlaanderen. In the video, she explains ...
Microplastics found in testicles
Researchers from the University of New Mexico have found microplastics in human and canine testicles for the first time. The results were published in the ...
Global increase in plastic production expected
The global production of plastic is expected to double, or even triple, between now and 2050. This will inevitably result in more plastic pollution and ...
ZonMw magazine featuring Dick Vethaak
Driven by the desire for a clean living environment, Dick Vethaak has had a profound impact with his research. He is one of the frontrunners of research ...
Meet the Crew: Josefine Geiger
In February, we celebrated the kick-off of the seven new breakthrough projects funded by ZonMw. A good opportunity to get to know the project leader of one ...
“Working together with other partners opened up great opportunities”
Martin Brits is leaving the MOMENTUM consortium. For the past three years, he has worked as a research associate at the VU Amsterdam in the group of Marja ...
ZonMw videos on breakthrough projects
Since 2018, researchers have been working hard to identify and minimise the health effects of micro- and nanoplastics. Initial projects have shown that ...
Microplastics found in arteries – cause for both concern and caution
A recent study found that the presence of micro- and nanoplastics in human arteries was associated with an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, or ...
In Memoriam Ingeborg Kooter
It is with a deeply saddened heart that we received the news that our dear colleague dr. ir. Ingeborg Kooter passed away on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. ...
How may microbes on the surface of plastics influence human health?
In which ways can microbes on the surface of plastics affect human health? And which pieces of the puzzle need to be solved in order to include the ...
Race against time to unravel health effects of microplastics
The Washington Post published an article this week discussing the current progress and challenges in microplastics research. Back in 2015, it was ...
Documentary and New York Times article explore health risks of microplastics
A new documentary exploring the growing threat of microplastics for human health premiers at the SXSW Film Festival this month. The film titled “Plastic ...
Presence of nanoplastics tied to higher risk of heart attack, stroke, or death
The presence of micro- and nanoplastics in human arteries has been linked to cardiovascular diseases. A new study followed 257 patients with narrowed blood ...
Scientists find bottled water teeming with nanoplastics
Bottled water has been found to contain hundreds of thousands of tiny particles of plastic that have not previously been counted, raising questions over ...
Finished your bottle of water? Then you also ingested hundreds of plastic particles
Disposable bottles of water contain about 240,000 plastic particles per liter, according to a recent American study published in the American journal PNAS. ...
When drinking from disposable bottles, you ingest countless pieces of nanoplastic
The presence of plastic particles in disposable water bottles has been known for some time, but the concrete number of 240,000 particles per liter on ...
Meet the Crew: Bart Koelmans
In MOMENTUM, we collaborate with more than thirty research partners and industrial partners. By no means everyone knows each other, which is why we are ...
Fashion’s invisible fallout: the impact of textile microfibers on lung health
How can tiny plastic fibers affect lung cells? Researchers of University of Groningen and their MOMENTUM colleagues discovered that nylon fibers are ...
Microplastics were found in D.C. rivers. Researchers want to find why.
In an article of the Washington Post, MOMENTUM’s Dick Vethaak was asked to give his expert opinion on the human health risks microplastics pose to ...
Launch of 7 new projects for research into microplastics
With new grants totalling € 2,100,000 from ZonMw, 7 new breakthrough projects will start. These projects will do further research into microplastics and ...
Malvern Panalytical Future Days Presentations
On 5 October 2023, Malvern Panalytical organized the “Malvern Panalytical Future Days – The Plastics and Polymers edition”. This event ...
Pointer Checkt: interview with Roel Vermeulen
The Dutch Youtube series ‘Pointer Checkt’ is a program that seeks to counter disinformation by searching for the facts ...
You are always eating plastic and now drowning in it
Did you know that microplastics are already present in the human bloodstream? Dick Vethaak, emeritus professor of Water Quality and Health at Vrije ...
Microplastics have been found in the human heart for the first time ever
According to a new study published in the Environmental Science and Technology, doctors made the discovery at Beijing Anzhen Hospital in ...
Presentation at the AquaConSoil 2023
AquaConSoil is a bi-yearly event where scientists, policy- and decisionmakers and industry representatives gather to learn, share and engage on sustainable ...
New grant awarded for research on health effects of microplastics
What happens when microplastics enter the human body? While the amount of microplastics in our environment is increasing, we know very little about the ...
