Cancer-causing flame retardants found in everyday things like plastics, furniture, fabrics and electronics can be sucked up by the skin and absorbed into the bloodstream in 24 hours, scientists have found. A state-of-the-art 3D-printed skin model was used in an exposure study in the journal Environment International, shedding fresh light on the potential risks these pervasive pollutants pose. Sweatier skin sucks up more of the chemicals—polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)—than dry skin when microplastics they've been added to come into contact with the skin. The study, from Brunel University London and the University of Birmingham, is the first to spotlight skin absorption as a potentially risky route to human exposure to toxic additive chemicals found in microplastics. ....