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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Evaluating nano- and microplastic particles as vectors of exposure for plastic additive chemicals using a food web model: Implications for risk to human health
ClearEvaluating microplastic particles as vectors of exposure for plastic additive chemicals using a food web model
Researchers used a bioaccumulation model to estimate how much chemical exposure humans and wildlife receive specifically from ingesting microplastic particles — versus other environmental routes — and found that microplastics only become a meaningful source of chemical additives when ingestion rates are high and the plastic contains substantial concentrations of hydrophobic chemicals. The work helps clarify when microplastics are a significant chemical vector, finding that health risks from this pathway are likely negligible at currently estimated ingestion rates.
Plastic additives and microplastics as emerging contaminants: Mechanisms and analytical assessment
Researchers reviewed how chemical additives mixed into plastics during manufacturing — including stabilizers, flame retardants, and plasticizers — can leach out throughout a plastic's lifecycle and pose risks to ecosystems and human health, with microplastics acting as carriers that concentrate and transport these hazardous chemicals.
Toxic Chemicals and Persistent Organic Pollutants Associated with Micro-and Nanoplastics Pollution
Researchers reviewed how micro- and nanoplastics act as carriers for toxic chemical additives and persistent organic pollutants — like flame retardants and pesticides — making these contaminants more available and harmful once they enter food chains and human bodies. The review identifies major gaps in understanding how these chemicals detach from plastic particles inside living organisms and what health effects they cause.
Study of the Potential Impact of Microplastics and Additives on Human Health
This review examines the potential health impacts of microplastics and their chemical additives on humans, noting the difficulty of assessing risk due to the highly variable physical and chemical properties of microplastics. Researchers found that microplastics act as vectors for toxic chemicals in ecosystems, and that combined exposure to plastic particles and associated contaminants represents a complex stressor with poorly understood health consequences.
Toxicological review of micro- and nano-plastics in aquatic environments: Risks to ecosystems, food web dynamics and human health.
This review synthesized evidence on the toxicological effects of micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic ecosystems, covering risks to individual organisms, disruptions to food web dynamics, and pathways through which plastic exposure poses risks to human health via seafood consumption.
Understanding the leaching of plastic additives and subsequent risks to ecosystems
This review explains how chemical additives in plastics -- including plasticizers, flame retardants, and stabilizers -- can leach out of microplastics into the environment and potentially into the human body. Some of these additives, such as phthalates and brominated flame retardants, are persistent, build up in living tissue, and are linked to hormone disruption and other health effects. The authors note that our understanding of the full toxicity risk from leaching plastic additives is still limited.
Microplastics as a Vector of Hazardous Contaminants: Plastic Chemicals, Digestive Physiology and the Need for Chemical Simplification
This review explored how microplastics serve as vectors for hazardous chemicals, distinguishing between plastic-associated chemicals added during manufacturing and environmental pollutants adsorbed onto particle surfaces. The authors argue that the chemical burden of ingested microplastics warrants much more rigorous toxicological assessment.
Contribution of chemical toxicity to the overall toxicity of microplastic particles: A review
This review examines how the chemical toxicity of microplastics, from leached additives and absorbed pollutants, contributes to their overall harmful effects beyond just physical damage. Over 16,000 chemicals are used in plastic manufacturing, many of which can leach out and cause harm to living organisms at environmentally realistic concentrations. The findings suggest that the chemical cocktail carried by microplastics may be just as important as their physical presence when assessing health risks.
Ecological Impacts of Microplastics and Their Additives
This comprehensive review examines how microplastics and their chemical additives cause ecological harm, covering exposure risks, toxicity pathways, and the transport of persistent toxic substances through ecosystems. Microplastics act as carriers for harmful chemicals that can accumulate in organisms and travel up the food chain toward humans. The review emphasizes that understanding the full life cycle of microplastics, from production to environmental breakdown, is essential for assessing risks to both ecosystems and human health.
Weight of Evidence for the Microplastic Vector Effect in the Context of Chemical Risk Assessment
This study critically evaluates the evidence for microplastics acting as vectors that increase organism exposure to plastic-associated chemicals, finding that the vector effect is generally minor compared to other exposure routes in realistic environmental scenarios.
Microplastics as vectors for environmental contaminants in the food chain: Assessing the combined toxicological effects and bioavailability
This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics act as carriers for environmental pollutants including heavy metals, organic chemicals, and microbial agents as they move through food chains. Researchers detail how polymer type, particle size, and environmental conditions influence the binding and release of these contaminants. The study highlights that the combined toxicity of microplastics together with the pollutants they carry may be greater than either would cause alone.
Micro(nano)plastics: Unignorable vectors for organisms
This review examines the role of micro- and nanoplastics as vectors for contaminants — including heavy metals, organic pollutants, and pathogens — in aquatic and terrestrial environments. It synthesizes evidence on how plastic particles can adsorb, transport, and release harmful substances, amplifying their ecological and health risks beyond the physical effects of the particles alone.
Leaching of microplastic-associated additives in aquatic environments: A critical review
This review examined how microplastic-associated chemical additives leach into aquatic environments, summarizing recent advances in understanding release kinetics, phase equilibrium between microplastics and water, and the environmental and health risks posed by organic additives and heavy metals.
Les additifs issus des microplastiques : caractérisation, lixiviation et impacts
This review characterizes plastic additives leaching from microplastics into the environment, examining their physicochemical properties, leaching behavior, and biological impacts, and surveying the growing evidence that many plastic additives are toxic to organisms including marine wildlife and humans.
Microplastic: Its Effect on Human Health
This review outlines how microplastics from single-use packaging, bottles, and consumer goods enter the food chain through ingestion and inhalation, serving as carriers for toxic chemical additives and adsorbed pollutants that pose risks to human health.
Trophic transfer of microplastics and mixed contaminants in the marine food web and implications for human health
This review examines how microplastics act as vectors for chemical contaminants through marine food webs, discussing the factors influencing ingestion, the biological impacts of sorbed chemicals, and evidence for trophic transfer across multiple trophic levels. Researchers highlight that existing lab studies use unrealistically high concentrations and that no study has yet tracked microplastic-contaminant transfer from seafood to humans.
Chemical and ecotoxicological assessment of microplastics and emerging risks in the coastal environments
This review examines the chemical composition of microplastics found in coastal environments and assesses their ecotoxicological risks, including the leaching of plastic additives and adsorption of environmental pollutants. It emphasizes the need for better risk assessment frameworks that account for both the particles and their associated chemical contaminants.
Microplastics and associated contaminants in the aquatic environment: A review on their ecotoxicological effects, trophic transfer, and potential impacts to human health
This review examines how microplastics and the chemical contaminants they carry move through aquatic food chains from small organisms up to larger predators. Researchers found that microplastics can transfer toxic additives and absorbed pollutants to organisms that ingest them, with potential implications for seafood safety and ultimately human health.
Unraveling the ecotoxicological effects of micro and nano-plastics on aquatic organisms and human health
This review summarizes the growing body of evidence on how micro- and nanoplastics affect aquatic organisms and, through the food chain, potentially human health. The tiny plastic particles absorb toxic pollutants and pathogens from the water, acting as carriers that deliver these harmful substances into the bodies of fish, shellfish, and other organisms. The review highlights that both direct plastic toxicity and indirect chemical exposure through contaminated seafood pose risks to human consumers.
Exposure scenarios for human health risk assessment of nano- and microplastic particles
This paper focuses on developing realistic exposure scenarios for assessing human health risks from nano- and microplastic particles. Establishing accurate models of how much plastic people actually encounter through food, air, and water is a critical step for determining whether current exposure levels pose real health dangers.
Microplastic in Water System: A Review of Their Impact on Environment, Current Perspective and Future Direction
This review highlights hazardous chemicals associated with micro- and nanoplastics, including plastic additives and absorbed environmental pollutants, and their potential health risks after entering the food chain. It frames microplastics as markers of a new geological era and calls for improved monitoring and regulation of plastic-associated toxicants.
Microplastic in Water System: A Review of Their Impact on Environment, Current Perspective and Future Direction
This review highlights hazardous chemicals associated with micro- and nanoplastics, including plastic additives and absorbed environmental pollutants, and their potential health risks after entering the food chain. It frames microplastics as markers of a new geological era and calls for improved monitoring and regulation of plastic-associated toxicants.
Micro-Nano Plastics in Aquatic Environments: Associated Health Impacts and Mitigation Strategies
This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic environments are biologically transferred up the food chain, covering the factors that influence particle bioavailability, accumulation in organisms, and trophic transfer — with implications for both aquatic ecosystem health and human dietary exposure.
Microplastic in marine organism: Environmental and toxicological effects
This review examined microplastics as a complex mixture of polymers, additives, and adsorbed environmental contaminants, and assessed their toxicological effects on marine organisms from ingestion and internal distribution. The authors emphasize that microplastic harm comes not only from the plastic itself but from the chemical cocktail it carries, and review the growing evidence for food web transfer.