Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Interaction of Chemical Contaminants with Microplastics

This review examines how chemical contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals adsorb onto microplastic surfaces and are transported through the environment. Microplastics act as vectors that concentrate and move toxic chemicals, potentially amplifying human exposure through food and water.

2023
Article Tier 2

Marine microplastics as vectors of major ocean pollutants and its hazards to the marine ecosystem and humans

Researchers reviewed how microplastics in the ocean act as "hitchhikers" for other pollutants — absorbing and carrying heavy metals, pesticides, and chemicals into marine food webs and ultimately toward humans. While direct proof of microplastic harm to humans is still limited, the accumulated evidence of toxic chemical transport through seafood and drinking water raises serious concern.

2021 Progress in Earth and Planetary Science 566 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as carriers of toxic pollutants: Source, transport, and toxicological effects

This review summarizes how microplastics absorb and carry toxic pollutants like persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, and antibiotics through the environment, concentrating these harmful chemicals as they move through ecosystems. When organisms ingest these contaminated particles, the pollutants can build up in the food chain and eventually reach humans, making microplastics not just a physical hazard but also a chemical delivery system.

2023 Environmental Pollution 261 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2019 Marine Pollution Bulletin 205 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as a Serious Challenge in Marine Environment

This review summarizes how microplastics accumulate in marine environments, acting as carriers for other toxic chemicals and posing health risks to marine organisms and the humans who eat them. The paper highlights the dual threat of microplastics as both physical contaminants and vectors for co-pollutants.

2023 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

The Dual Role of Microplastics in Marine Environment: Sink and Vectors of Pollutants

This review examines the dual role of microplastics in the marine environment as both accumulators of persistent organic pollutants and vectors that transport these chemicals and other contaminants including heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and pathogens. The study highlights how microplastics can concentrate toxic substances from seawater and then release them when ingested by marine organisms, creating additional exposure pathways.

2021 Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 60 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Toxicology Letters 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics (MPs) Act as Sources and Vector of Pollutants‐Impact Hazards and Preventive Measures

This review explores how microplastics can act both as sources of chemical substances and as carriers for other environmental pollutants. Researchers found that regardless of which role microplastics play, the combined presence of plastic particles and attached chemical substances can have harmful effects on biological systems, though more experimental research is needed to fully understand these interactions.

2021 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 58 citations
Article Tier 2

Research progress on environmental occurrence of microplastics and their interaction mechanism with organic pollutants

This review summarizes how microplastics in the environment interact with organic pollutants—adsorbing, carrying, and releasing them. Microplastics act as mobile carriers for persistent organic chemicals, altering their distribution and toxicity in ecosystems and the organisms, including humans, that consume them.

2021 Scientia Sinica Chimica 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Association of hazardous compounds with microplastics in freshwater ecosystems

This book chapter reviews how hazardous chemical compounds — including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and heavy metals — associate with microplastics in freshwater ecosystems. Microplastics act as carriers for these compounds, potentially increasing their bioavailability to aquatic organisms and complicating risk assessment.

2020 IWA Publishing eBooks 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors of chemical contaminants and biological agents in freshwater ecosystems: Current knowledge status and future perspectives

This review examines how microplastics in freshwater ecosystems act as carriers for chemical pollutants and harmful microorganisms. Researchers found that pollutant concentrations on microplastic surfaces can be up to six times higher than in surrounding water, amplifying exposure risks for aquatic life and potentially humans. The findings highlight that microplastics are not just a pollution problem themselves but also a vehicle that spreads other contaminants through the food web.

2023 Environmental Pollution 162 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors of contaminants

This review highlights the emerging role of microplastics as carriers of biological and chemical contaminants in water environments. Researchers note that while microplastic pollution is increasingly well-documented, the interactions between contaminants adsorbed onto microplastic surfaces and aquatic organisms remain poorly understood. The study stresses the need for further investigation into how microplastics may facilitate the transport and bioavailability of pollutants.

2019 Marine Pollution Bulletin 331 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: Current Status in the Environment and Human Health Risks: A Comprehensive Review

This comprehensive review covers the sources, environmental distribution, food chain entry, and human health risks of microplastics, with particular attention to their role as vectors for chemical pollutants and pathogens. It highlights regulatory gaps and emerging mitigation approaches across terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric systems.

2025 International Journal of Environmental Sciences
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as Silent Invaders: A Multiscale Review of their Toxicological Effects and Contaminant Interactions in Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments

This multiscale review evaluated the toxicological effects of microplastics at molecular, cellular, and ecosystem levels in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Special emphasis was placed on microplastics as vectors for heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and pharmaceuticals, which amplify their toxicity beyond direct physical effects.

2025 Magna Scientia Advanced Research and Reviews
Article Tier 2

Source, transport, and toxicity of emerging contaminants in aquatic environments: A review on recent studies

This review examines emerging contaminants in water, with a focus on how microplastics act as carriers for other pollutants due to their strong ability to absorb chemicals. When microplastics carry these hitchhiking pollutants, the combined effect on aquatic organisms can be amplified thousands of times as they move up the food chain. The findings highlight how microplastic pollution does not just add plastic to the environment but also concentrates and transports other harmful chemicals toward humans.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 40 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and environmental pollutants: Key interaction and toxicology in aquatic and soil environments

This review tracks how microplastics move through soil, water, and air ecosystems, acting as carriers for other pollutants like pesticides and heavy metals. When microplastics absorb these toxins, the combined effect on organisms can be worse than either pollutant alone. The paper highlights the need for better understanding of how these pollutant combinations affect ecosystems and ultimately human health through contaminated food and water.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 520 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastic-Toxic Chemical Interaction: A Review Study on Quantified Levels, Mechanism and Implication

This review summarizes quantified levels of heavy metals and hydrophobic organic contaminants sorbed onto microplastics in environmental media, examining adsorption and desorption mechanisms and discussing health implications of ingested microplastics acting as vectors for toxic chemical transport.

2019 Preprints.org 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors of pharmaceuticals in aquatic organisms – An overview of their environmental implications

Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as "vectors" for pharmaceutical contaminants in aquatic environments, absorbing drugs onto their surfaces and then releasing them inside organisms after ingestion — potentially amplifying the toxicity of pharmaceuticals throughout the food web.

2021 Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering 100 citations
Article Tier 2

A review on the combined toxicological effects of microplastics and their attached pollutants

Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as carriers for other environmental pollutants — including heavy metals and persistent organic chemicals — and how these combinations produce toxic effects in organisms that are more severe than either contaminant alone. The findings highlight a complex, layered toxicity problem that affects microbes, invertebrates, and vertebrates across marine and terrestrial environments.

2025 Emerging contaminants 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors of environmental contaminants: Interactions in the natural ecosystems

This review examines how microplastics act as vectors for pathogens, persistent organic pollutants, and heavy metals in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, summarising evidence that these particles damage cell membranes, tissues, and physiological processes in exposed organisms.

2022 Human and Ecological Risk Assessment An International Journal 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Surface Waters: A Critical Review of Emerging Challenges and Future Perspectives

This review examines microplastic contamination across aquatic environments, covering detection technologies, ecological risks from ingestion by wildlife and transfer through food webs, and how microplastics serve as vectors for pesticides, heavy metals, and chemical pollutants.

2025 Environmental Quality Management
Article Tier 2

Fate of microplastics and emerging contaminants: Mechanisms of interactions, bioaccumulation and combined toxicity to aquatic organisms

This review summarizes how microplastics interact with other emerging contaminants in water, finding that microplastics can absorb pollutants at concentrations up to a million times higher than surrounding water and carry them into living organisms. The combined toxicity of microplastics plus these hitchhiking chemicals is often greater than either alone, and these pollutants can reach humans through the food chain.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Pollution Focused on Sources, Distribution, Contaminant Interactions, Analytical Methods, and Wastewater Removal Strategies: A Review

This review examines microplastic pollution across all environmental compartments, covering sources, distribution, contaminant interactions, analytical methods, and wastewater removal strategies. Microplastics act as vectors for pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, PCBs, and PAHs, and the review discusses both the analytical challenges of detection and available treatment options.

2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 74 citations
Article Tier 2

Partitioning of chemical contaminants to microplastics: Sorption mechanisms, environmental distribution and effects on toxicity and bioaccumulation

This review critically examines how chemical contaminants like persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals sorb onto microplastic surfaces in the environment. Researchers found that while microplastics can concentrate pollutants at levels far above surrounding water, the actual contribution of microplastics to contaminant transfer into organisms may be less significant than direct exposure from water and food. The study calls for more realistic experimental designs to clarify the true risk.

2019 Environmental Pollution 487 citations