Microplastic as a Vector for Chemicals in the Aquatic Environment: Critical Review and Model-Supported Reinterpretation of Empirical Studies
TLDR
Overall the flux of HOCs bioaccumulated from natural prey overwhelms the flux from ingested microplastics for most habitats, which implies that microplastic ingestion is not likely to increase the exposure to and thus risks of H OCs in the marine environment.Abstract:
The hypothesis that ‘microplastic will transfer hazardous hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOC) to marine animals’ has been central to the perceived hazard and risk of plastic in the marine environment. The hypothesis is often cited and has gained momentum, turning it into paradigm status. We provide a critical evaluation of the scientific literature regarding this hypothesis. Using new calculations based on published studies, we explain the sometimes contrasting views and unify them in one interpretive framework. One explanation for the contrasting views among studies is that they test different hypotheses. When reframed in the context of the above hypothesis, the available data become consistent. We show that HOC microplastic-water partitioning can be assumed to be at equilibrium for most microplastic residing in the oceans. We calculate the fraction of total HOC sorbed by plastics to be small compared to that sorbed by other media in the ocean. We further demonstrate consistency among (a) measured HOC tr...read more
Citations
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Microplastics in freshwater and terrestrial environments: Evaluating the current understanding to identify the knowledge gaps and future research priorities.
TL;DR: This review critically evaluates the current literature on the presence, behaviour and fate of microplastics in freshwater and terrestrial environments and, where appropriate, draws on relevant studies from other fields including nanotechnology, agriculture and waste management.
Journal ArticleDOI
Plastic and Human Health: A Micro Issue?
TL;DR: There is potential for microplastics to impact human health, and assessing current exposure levels and burdens is key to guide future research into the potential mechanisms of toxicity and hence therein possible health effects.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microplastics in freshwaters and drinking water: Critical review and assessment of data quality.
TL;DR: More high quality data is needed on the occurrence of microplastics in drinking water, to better understand potential exposure and to inform human health risk assessments, and there is a significant need to improve quality assurance ofmicroplastic sampling and analysis in water samples.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems
Anderson Abel de Souza Machado,Anderson Abel de Souza Machado,Werner Kloas,Werner Kloas,Christiane Zarfl,Stefan Hempel,Matthias C. Rillig +6 more
TL;DR: The pervasive microplastic contamination as a potential agent of global change in terrestrial systems is introduced, the physical and chemical nature of the respective observed effects are highlighted, and the broad toxicity of nanoplastics derived from plastic breakdown is discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Interactions of microplastic debris throughout the marine ecosystem
TL;DR: The concept of microplastic as a complex, dynamic mixture of polymers and additives, to which organic material and contaminants can successively bind to form an ‘ecocorona’, increasing the density and surface charge of particles and changing their bioavailability and toxicity is developed.
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Jenna Jambeck,Roland Geyer,Chris Wilcox,Theodore R. Siegler,Anthony L. Andrady,Ramani Narayan,Kara Lavender Law +6 more
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