Glove Residues May Skew Microplastic Measurements, U-M Researchers Find

A University of Michigan study shows nitrile and latex gloves shed stearates that resemble microplastics and can cause about 2,000 false positives per square millimeter in measurements. Cleanroom gloves release far fewer particulates, reducing contamination, and the team developed methods to distinguish glove-derived contaminants from true microplastics, enabling researchers to revisit affected datasets.