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Microplastic migration and transformation pathways and exposure health risks
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This review traces how microplastics move through soil, air, and water on a global scale, examining how sunlight, weathering, and microbes transform them along the way. The paper highlights that these transformation processes can make microplastics more toxic by increasing their ability to carry harmful chemicals and by generating smaller particles that more easily enter the human body.
Plastics play a crucial role in modern life, but improper use and disposal have resulted in microplastics becoming widespread in the environment, raising significant concerns about both the environment and human health. Extensive research has explored the transformation mechanisms, bioaccumulation, ecological impacts, and health risks associated with microplastics. The present review first analyzes the migration, transformation, and degradation pathways of microplastics on a global scale, and then synthesizes current knowledge on the types, sources, and migration pathways of microplastics in soil, atmosphere, and aquatic environments, emphasizing transformation mechanisms like photo-aging and microbial degradation, and detailing their ecological and human health impacts. Additionally, this review examines gaps in current research and identifies critical areas needing further study, such as key control points in microplastic degradation processes and the mechanisms underlying health risks to populations. The aim is to provide a comprehensive reference for advancing microplastic pollution control, ecological protection efforts, and health risk assessment frameworks.
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This review traces the full journey of microplastics through the environment, from their origins to how they move through water, soil, and air. Researchers examined how properties like particle size, shape, density, and surface chemistry influence where microplastics end up and how far they travel. The study highlights that during transport, microplastics can release toxic additives and carry other pollutants, posing risks to both ecosystems and human health.
A Comprehensive Review on Environmental Migration, Physicochemical Transformations, and Exposure-Related Health Risks of Microplastics
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Researchers synthesized over 200 peer-reviewed studies to review the environmental migration pathways, physicochemical transformations, and human health risks of microplastics across aquatic, terrestrial, and atmospheric environments, finding heterogeneous global distributions of fragments and fibers predominantly composed of polyethylene and polypropylene, with bioaccumulation, endocrine disruption, and oxidative stress identified as key mechanisms of toxicity.
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This review examines how microplastics migrate through soil, summarizes their known toxic effects on soil organisms and plants, and identifies key gaps in current understanding. Soils are increasingly recognized as major microplastic repositories, and their contamination has implications for food safety and ecosystem health.
Source, migration and toxicology of microplastics in soil
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This review compiles research on the sources, movement, and toxic effects of microplastics in soil ecosystems, an area that has received less attention than aquatic pollution. Researchers describe how microplastics enter soil through agricultural practices, wastewater, and atmospheric deposition, then transfer through food chains to affect organisms at multiple levels. The study identifies major knowledge gaps and proposes management strategies to mitigate the ecological and human health risks of soil microplastic contamination.
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