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Research Gaps and Future Directions for Addressing Microplastics and PFAS: Impacts in Aquatic Environments

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This review identifies critical knowledge gaps in understanding how microplastics and PFAS (forever chemicals) interact and cause harm in aquatic environments after more than seven decades of production. Addressing these gaps is urgent because both contaminants persist indefinitely, accumulate in living organisms, and are now detectable in virtually every aquatic environment on Earth.

Forever chemicals, including microplastics (MPs; <5 mm) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), have been produced and utilized for more than seven decades. Megatons of plastic and fluoropolymeric goods is produced yearly, and most of them are...

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