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Microplastics: Their effects on the environment, human health, and plant ecosystems
Summary
Researchers reviewed how microplastics enter the human body through ingestion, inhalation, and skin contact, potentially causing cell damage, hormone disruption, and cardiovascular harm, while also degrading soil quality and stunting plant growth. The review urges urgent action given how thoroughly these particles have infiltrated both human health and agricultural systems.
The issue of plastic waste has become a significant concern for the environment as 40 % of single-use plastics are often discarded and accumulate on land and in waterways, leading to degradation into micro- and nano-sized particles through photodegradation, thermooxidative degradation, hydrolytic degradation, and biodegradation by microorganisms. The present review highlights the detection of microplastics and their impacts on humans and plants. These microplastics can carry dangerous chemicals and other substances, causing serious health hazards. They can enter the human body through inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact, causing various health hazards, including cell injury, hormone disruption, and cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, these microplastics also significantly impact soil and plant growth, reducing yields and other negative consequences for the plants. These microplastics can quickly enter the soil and plants, causing drastic changes in the physicochemical characteristics of soil (pH, water retention, nutrient content), microbial community, and fertility, thereby impeding the plant's whole performance and response. The current review also focused on the microplastic manifestation of reduction in plant growth, seed germination, spore size, oxidative damage, and vascular blockage. Although more research is needed to understand the mechanisms of microplastic toxicity and transport fully, it is evident that urgent action must be taken to tackle this escalating issue. • It highlights the impact of microplastics on plant growth and seed germination. • It disserted the oxidative damage and vascular blockage by microplastics. • The present review highlights the detection of microplastics and their impacts on humans. • We discussed the significant impact of microplastic on soil, thereby causing soil contamination.
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