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From Cradle to Grave: Microplastics—A Dangerous Legacy for Future Generations

Environments 2024 10 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Tamara Lang, Tamara Lang, Filip Jelić, Christian Wechselberger

Summary

This review examines how microplastics affect human health from before birth through death, covering fetal exposure through the placenta, childhood ingestion, lifelong accumulation in tissues, and eventual release back into the environment. Evidence shows that microplastic exposure begins in the womb and continues throughout life, with particles building up in organs over time. The authors argue that microplastics represent a generational health threat that requires urgent attention.

Body Systems

Microplastics have become a ubiquitous pollutant that permeates every aspect of our environment—from the oceans to the soil to the elementary foundations of human life. New findings demonstrate that microplastic particles not only pose a latent threat to adult populations, but also play a serious role even before birth during the fetal stages of human development. Exposure to microplastics during the early childhood stages is another source of risk that is almost impossible to prevent. This comprehensive review examines the multiple aspects associated with microplastics during early human development, detailing the mechanisms by which these particles enter the adult body, their bioaccumulation in tissues throughout life and the inevitable re-entry of these particles into different ecosystems after death.

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