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Risk assessing micro- and nanoplastics for early-life human health: the AURORA Horizon 2020 research project
Summary
The AURORA project is developing a European risk assessment roadmap for nano- and microplastic exposure during early life stages including fetal, infant, and child development. The project aims to fill critical data gaps and produce regulatory guidance for protecting the most vulnerable populations from microplastic-related risks.
The scale of micro- and nanoplastic (MNP) pollution is increasingly clear yet little is known about how this pollution impacts early-life health. The AURORA project will deliver an actionable European roadmap for early-life health risk assessment of MNPs to support regulation of MNPs, the products and processes that generate secondary MNPs, and enable development of safer alternatives. We focus on MNP exposures and toxicological and health effects during pregnancy, in utero, and in early life. MNPs have been shown to cross the placental barrier in vitro and in vivo, underlining the urgent need to understand their impacts on reproductive and early-life health. AURORA enhances exposure assessment capabilities for measuring MNPs and MNP-associated chemicals (e.g. additives) in tissues relevant for early-life development. We implement an integrated approach by combining in-depth characterization methods (microscopy and spectroscopy) and scalable methods (mass-spectrometry) to develop strategies for both detailed and large-scale toxicological characterization, exposure assessment, and epidemiological studies. This will be combined with a novel tiered-testing approach and epidemiological investigations to provide the first extensive evaluation of maternal and fetal MNP exposures and health perturbations, including placental function, immune-inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, accelerated aging, endocrine disruption, and child development. By applying the tools and methodological workflows of the AURORA research program, we create a risk assessment framework specific to MNPs and identify the remaining knowledge gaps and priorities needed for comprehensively evaluating the impact of MNPs on early-life health. The AURORA is part of the EU Horizon 2020 funded research CUSP cluster. The project is a collaboration between 11 partners based in Europe and the US, and runs until March 2026. Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559474/document