Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

A Review on Emerging Contaminants: Effects on Human Health and Cancer Risks

This review examines how emerging contaminants, including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals, may contribute to health problems and cancer risk. Evidence indicates that many of these pollutants can disrupt hormones, trigger inflammation, and cause DNA damage, though the long-term effects of low-level exposure are not yet fully understood. The authors stress the need for better monitoring, regulation, and research into how mixtures of these contaminants affect human health over time.

2024 Journal of Clinical and Nursing Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 194 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental and health hazards of chemicals in plastic polymers and products

Researchers reviewed the environmental and health hazards of chemicals in plastic polymers and products, examining the toxicological profiles of monomers, additives, and degradation products that can leach from plastics into food, water, and the environment. The study identifies numerous plastic-associated chemicals with endocrine-disrupting, carcinogenic, or developmental toxicity potential and calls for more comprehensive safety testing of plastic formulations.

2011 Gothenburg University Publications Electronic Archive (Gothenburg University) 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity of plastic consumer products: a biological, chemical and social-ecological analysis

This study analyzed the toxic chemicals found in consumer plastic products, including additives, monomers, and processing by-products that can leach into food or the environment. The findings highlight that plastic toxicity extends beyond microplastic particles themselves — the chemicals embedded in plastics pose significant health risks through food packaging and environmental contamination.

2021
Article Tier 2

The Environmental Hazards of Micro- and Nanoplastics

Researchers reviewed how microplastics — tiny plastic particles found everywhere in the environment — can enter the body, accumulate in tissues, and disrupt the immune, digestive, and nervous systems, with exposure linked to hormonal imbalances, chronic disease, and cancer risk.

2025 Advances in Biology & Earth Sciences 6 citations
Review Tier 2

A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health

This detailed review examines the potential health effects of microplastics and the chemical additives they contain, which can include plasticizers, flame retardants, and stabilizers. Researchers describe how humans are exposed to these hazardous chemicals through ingestion, inhalation, and skin contact as microplastics break down in the environment. The study emphasizes that the combination of physical particle effects and chemical toxicity makes microplastics a uniquely complex health concern.

2020 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 1763 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as an emerging contaminant of concern to our environment: a brief overview of the sources and implications

This overview describes how microplastics have become a widespread environmental contaminant found in water, soil, air, and living organisms. Beyond being pollutants themselves, microplastics can carry other toxic substances and even antibiotic-resistant bacteria, amplifying their health risks. The authors emphasize that microplastic exposure through food, water, and air poses a significant and underappreciated threat to human health.

2023 Bioengineered 60 citations
Article Tier 2

The widely disregarded health risks posed by phthalates - A global call for action

This review highlights the widespread health risks posed by phthalates from microplastic-containing products, emphasizing their routes of human exposure through food, packaging, and personal care items, and their documented effects including oncogenicity and fetal developmental impacts. The authors call for urgent global regulatory action given the scale and severity of phthalate exposure.

2023 Toxicology in Vitro 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxic Components of Plastic Pose Carcinogenic Threat to Public Health

A wide range of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals — including bisphenol A, phthalates, brominated flame retardants, and polychlorinated biphenyls — are incorporated into common plastic products and can leach out during use. This review argues that chronic low-level exposure to these plastic-associated chemicals poses serious genotoxic and cancer risks to humans, and calls for greater public awareness and investment in safer biodegradable alternatives.

2023 Journal Of Advanced Zoology
Review Tier 2

Knowledge gaps on micro and nanoplastics and human health: A critical review

This critical review assessed current evidence on micro- and nanoplastic exposure and human health, concluding that while humans are ubiquitously exposed via food, water, and air, the long-term health effects of chronic low-level exposure remain poorly understood.

2021 Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering 41 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as an emerging threat to human health: Challenges and advancements in their detection

This review examined microplastics as an emerging threat to human health, highlighting their endocrine-disrupting properties, ability to accumulate pollutants, and the analytical challenges in accurately detecting and characterizing them across environmental and biological samples.

2023 Applied Chemical Engineering 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Comprehensive Insight from Phthalates Occurrence: From Health Outcomes to Emerging Analytical Approaches

This review summarizes the widespread occurrence of phthalates, chemicals commonly used as plasticizers in plastic products, and their potential health effects including endocrine disruption and reproductive harm. The study also surveys emerging analytical methods for detecting phthalates in food, water, and biological samples, highlighting the challenge of daily human exposure through consumer products.

2021 Toxics 56 citations
Article Tier 2

Mini review of microplastic pollutions and its impact on the environment and human health

This mini review summarizes the sources, distribution, and environmental impacts of microplastic pollution, highlighting the health risks posed by chemical leaching from microplastics and the need for better reduction strategies.

2023 Waste Management & Research The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy 11 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Asian Journal of Microbiology Biotechnology and Environmental Sciences 1 citations
Review Tier 2

Plastics, microplastics, and human contamination: A literature review

This literature review synthesizes research on human contamination by plastics and microplastics, covering ingestion, inhalation, and dermal exposure routes and summarizing documented health effects across organ systems.

2024 Seven Editora eBooks
Article Tier 2

Unveiling the Hidden Dangers of Plasticizers: A Call for Immediate Action

This review highlights the hidden health dangers of plasticizers -- chemicals added to plastics found in food containers, toys, cosmetics, and personal care items -- calling for immediate regulatory action given their widespread human exposure and evidence of endocrine disruption and other toxic effects.

2023 Toxics 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro(nano)plastics, an emerging health problem

This review frames micro- and nanoplastics as an emerging human health problem, synthesizing evidence of exposure routes, organ-level accumulation, and biological effects, and calling for updated regulatory frameworks to address this novel class of environmental contaminants.

2025 Environmental Research and Ecotoxicity
Article Tier 2

Environmental and Health Effects of Emerging Contaminants –A Critical Review

Researchers reviewed the environmental and health effects of emerging contaminants including pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and microplastics commonly found in water and soil samples. The study suggests that these contaminants can cause endocrine disruption in exposed organisms and may contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment.

2023 International Journal of Advanced Science and Engineering 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: Environmental Ubiquity, Biological Fate, and Human Health Implications

This review summarizes the current understanding of microplastics as a growing global contaminant affecting both ecosystems and human health. Researchers note that microplastics can carry harmful compounds and have been found throughout the environment and in the human body, while global regulatory frameworks remain insufficient. The study calls for enhanced monitoring, stricter regulations, and source-reduction strategies to address the long-term risks of microplastic exposure.

2025 International Journal of Sciences and Innovation Engineering 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential risk assessment and toxicological impacts of nano/micro-plastics on human health through food products

This review examined the potential risks and toxicological effects of nano- and microplastics on human health through food products, identifying key contamination sources in the food chain and their harmful impacts on the body.

2023 Advances in food and nutrition research 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution: Critical analysis of global hotspots and their impact on health and ecosystems

This review identifies global microplastic hotspots and examines how these tiny particles enter the human food chain through contaminated meat, dairy, seafood, and plant-based products. Once inside the body, microplastics can cause inflammation, hormonal disruption, oxidative stress, and potentially contribute to cancer and organ damage over time.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Endocrine disrupting chemicals in indoor dust: A review of temporal and spatial trends, and human exposure

This review examines endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in indoor house dust, including phthalates, flame retardants, bisphenols, and PFAS, many of which come from plastic products. Even though some of these chemicals have been banned, they are still widely detected in dust, while their replacement chemicals are showing up at increasing levels. The findings are relevant to microplastic concerns because many of these hormone-disrupting chemicals are the same additives found in plastics that leach out as microplastics break down.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 80 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic in the Aquatic Environment and their Impact on Aquatic Organisms and Humans: A Review

This review summarizes research on microplastic occurrence across marine water, freshwater, drinking water, wastewater, food, and air, characterizing microplastics as the most hazardous emerging contaminants of the 21st century given their ubiquity and persistence. The review underscores that human exposure through multiple simultaneous pathways — including food, water, and respiration — makes understanding cumulative health risks a critical research and public health priority.

2023 Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences
Article Tier 2

Occurrence and sources of organic contaminants of emerging concern in indoor dust: A global perspective

This review examines the global occurrence and sources of organic contaminants of emerging concern found in indoor dust, including flame retardants, phthalate alternatives, UV filters, and microplastics. The study found that indoor dust serves as a key medium for human exposure to these contaminants, with concentrations varying significantly across geographic regions and building types.

2026 Journal of Hazardous Materials