Every source referenced anywhere in the Knowledge Base, FAQ, or White Paper, in one place. Each entry links to the live source it was verified against — nothing here is cited from memory alone. If a link breaks or a source is superseded, treat the citing article as needing review, not the reverse.
Thompson, R.C. et al. (2004). "Lost at Sea: Where Is All the Plastic?" Science, 304(5672), 838.
The paper that coined the term "microplastics."
View source →ISO 24187:2023. "Principles for the analysis of microplastics present in the environment." International Organization for Standardization.
Defines microplastics as solid, water-insoluble particles between 1 µm and 1,000 µm; the current cross-matrix analytical framework.
View source →World Health Organization (2019). "Microplastics in Drinking-Water."
Reviewed 50 studies; found no evidence of health concern at then-current exposure levels, but called for standardized methods and more research.
View source →Ragusa, A. et al. (2021). "Plasticenta: First evidence of microplastics in human placenta." Environment International, 146.
First reported detection of microplastic particles in human placental tissue.
View source →University of New Mexico Health Sciences (2024). "Microplastics found in every human placenta tested." Study led by Matthew Campen, reported via ScienceDaily.
62 of 62 placenta samples tested positive, concentrations 6.5–790 µg/g tissue.
View source →ACS Omega (2022). "Detection of Sub-20 μm Microplastic Particles by Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Comparison with Raman Spectroscopy."
µFTIR's conventional practical size floor (~20 µm) and how ATR-FTIR variants push below it.
View source →Marine Pollution Bulletin (2023). "Detecting small microplastics down to 1.3 μm using large area ATR-FTIR."
Advanced FTIR variants extending detection below the conventional floor.
View source →PMC (2024). "Rapid and Sensitive Quantification of Nano- and Microplastics in Water, Sediment, and Biological Tissue by Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry with Dynamic Reaction Monitoring."
Py-GC-MS/MS quantification down to nanogram levels across 12 common polymers.
View source →PMC (2023). "Analysis of microplastics in the environment: Identification and quantification of trace levels of common types of plastic polymers using pyrolysis-GC/MS."
Py-GC-MS as a mass-basis, mass-not-count method — no particle size or morphology data.
View source →Scientific Data / Nature (2022). "A Raman spectral reference library of potential anthropogenic and biological ocean polymers."
Open-access Raman spectral reference library, addressing paywalled-library access barriers.
View source →PMC (2023). "TUM-ParticleTyper 2: automated quantitative analysis of (microplastic) particles and fibers down to 1 μm by Raman microspectroscopy."
Raman's practical size floor (~1 µm), an order of magnitude finer than conventional µFTIR.
View source →U.S. Federal Trade Commission. 16 CFR § 260.9, "Free-of claims," Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims.
"Free-of" claims permitted only where trace amounts don't exceed background levels or cause the harm consumers associate with the substance.
View source →Latham & Watkins (2025). "European Commission Announces Intention to Withdraw EU Green Claims Directive Proposal, Although the Status Remains Unclear."
As of mid-2025 the Green Claims Directive proposal is paused/possibly withdrawn; the separately-adopted Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (binding from Sept 27, 2026) is unaffected.
View source →ASTM D6691. "Standard Test Method for Determining Aerobic Biodegradation of Plastic Materials in the Marine Environment by a Defined Microbial Consortium or Natural Sea Water Inoculum."
Requires ≥60% carbon conversion to CO2 within 180 days at 30°C; no equivalent ISO standard exists.
View source →ISO/IEC 17025:2017. "General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories."
Accredits a laboratory's technical competence for a defined scope of tests — not the organization as a whole.
View source →ISO/IEC 17065:2012. "Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services."
Accredits a certification body itself (e.g. MPFREE), distinct from lab accreditation under 17025.
View source →The Non-GMO Project. "The Non-GMO Project Standard," v16.1 (2023). Action Threshold: 0.9%.
Benchmark scheme: publishes a numeric action threshold with public rationale rather than an absolute-zero claim.
View source →OECD (2022). "Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options."
Global plastic waste ~400 Mt/year; only ~9% recycled; packaging is the largest single waste category.
View source →Summarized via Bevi / Culligan technical reviews of reverse-osmosis nanoplastic removal research, referencing a 2024 Nature Nanotechnology study.
RO membrane pore size (~0.1 nm) vs. smallest reported nanoplastics (~100 nm) — a size-exclusion, not adsorption, mechanism.
View source →PMC (2019). "Identification and quantification of macro- and microplastics on an agricultural farmland."
Plastic mulch film as the largest single source of agricultural plastic pollution; macro- and microplastic accumulation correlated.
View source →California Senate Bill 1422 (2018), "California Safe Drinking Water Act: microplastics," and the State Water Resources Control Board's 2022 policy handbook implementing it.
First mandatory statewide microplastics testing law in the world; adopted a definition, standard method, and lab accreditation requirement.
View source →