Threats of Microplastic Pollution on Fishes and its Implications on Human Health (Review Article)

Plastic products are one of the most commonly used materials in almost everything, including water bottles. This is due to its pons being versatile, resistant, and cheap material. Therefore, society depends mainly on this synthetic material. Anthropogenic activities as well as environmental degradation factors including mechanical and biological ones resulted in a globally ubiquitous type of pollution: plastic pollution. In such a type of pollution, plastic polymers break down into smaller particles, classified into five categories: mega-, macro-, meso--, micro, and nanoplastics. The current review summarizes the data obtained from research published in international journals, from the period extending from 2010 to 2023, concerned with microplastics, whose common size is < 5mm. The obtained data involved the characterization of the microplastics in addition to their negative impacts on fish and humans, being the end consumers in the food chain. The negative consequences of microplastic pollution on fishes start from showing abnormal behaviors to complete intestinal obstruction affecting the basic metabolism of fishes. On the other hand, among the major impacts of such polymers on human health are: oxidative stress, immunosuppression, neurotoxicity, and malignant tumors. The aforementioned diseases can eventually lead to either fish mortality, thus affecting the national income or human death. Accordingly, it is recommended to limit the use of plastics globally and shift to green eco-friendly materials. In addition to adopting different scenarios for the reduction of plastic pollution, such as cautious deposition of these solid wastes as well as their reuse and recycling. Hence, paving the way for Egypt to make significant progress toward achieving the sustainable development goals by 2040.