Washington, June 4: Cutting boards are common kitchen items in most households and restaurants. However, according to a small-scale study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology by the American Chemical Society, they are an unused source of micrometre-sized particles. Cutting carrots on wood and plastic boards, according to the study, can generate tens of millions of microparticles each year. However, a toxicity test found that polyethylene or wood microparticles generated during chopping had no effect on mouse cell survival.