Scientists have found microplastics in tissue samples of the penises of six men who were treated for erectile dysfunction.
The discovery "raises inquiries on the ramifications of environmental pollutants on sexual health," say researchers at the University of Miami in the US and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Germany.
Microplastics - shards smaller than 5 millimetres in diameter, around the size of a rice grain - are typically a by-product of plastic rubbish breaking down in nature after being carelessly discarded.
The seemingly ubiquitous pollutant has "infiltrated atmospheric, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, penetrating commonplace consumables like seafood, sea salt, and bottled beverages," according to the researchers.
The team's findings, which were announced in The International Journal of Impotence Research, part of the Nature stable of science publications, came less than a month after microplastics were reportedly found in human and dog testicles by a team from the University of New Mexico.
Other recent research has found even smaller plastics known as nanoplastics, often from bottled water, entering the human bloodstream and passing from mother to baby in the womb.
In April, a British science team published research showing that when microplastics come into contact with sweat, they can leach poisonous chemicals into the human body.
According to a European Parliament announcement during the same month, the European Union’s plastic packaging waste "increased from 66 million tonnes in 2009 to 84 million tonnes in 2021."
Other estimates have put the annual global amount of plastic waste as having topped 400 million tonnes a year, with wealthy nations in recent years accused of exporting rubbish to Asia for dumping, in turn spreading pollution and microplastics.