It's good to see the honest qualifications in the article:
>Mason's team was able to identify specific plastics over 100 microns (0.10 mm) in size but not smaller particles. According to experts contacted by CBC News, there is a chance the Nile Red dye is adhering to another unknown substance other than plastic.
>Mason leaves open that possibility but leans strongly to the smaller particles being plastic.
>The developer of the Nile Red method agrees.
>Fluorescing particles that were too small to be analyzed should be called "probable microplastic," said Andrew Mayes, senior lecturer in chemistry at the University of East Anglia in the U.K.
>Mason's team was able to identify specific plastics over 100 microns (0.10 mm) in size but not smaller particles. According to experts contacted by CBC News, there is a chance the Nile Red dye is adhering to another unknown substance other than plastic.
>Mason leaves open that possibility but leans strongly to the smaller particles being plastic.
>The developer of the Nile Red method agrees.
>Fluorescing particles that were too small to be analyzed should be called "probable microplastic," said Andrew Mayes, senior lecturer in chemistry at the University of East Anglia in the U.K.