Papers

61,005 results
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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
Review Tier 2

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.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 12 citations
Article Tier 2

The Toxicity of Plastics

This review synthesized over 200 studies on plastic toxicity, examining the physical, chemical, and biological threats posed by macro- and microplastics to ecosystems and human health, including their ability to cross biological barriers and carry chemical contaminants.

2023 IntechOpen eBooks 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

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
Article Tier 2

Plastic materials used in the food industry, their influence on health, and potential solutions

This review examines how plastics used in food packaging gradually degrade into microplastics that leach into food and beverages, posing potential health risks to consumers. It surveys the main plastic types used in the food industry, the health concerns associated with microplastic and additive exposure, and proposed solutions including biodegradable alternatives. The findings underscore that everyday food packaging is a significant and underappreciated source of microplastic exposure for the general public.

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

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.

2025 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic and Microplastic Wastes as Environmental Toxicants

This review covers the environmental accumulation of plastics and microplastics and their toxic chemical additives — including phthalates, flame retardants, bisphenol A, heavy metals, and PCBs — documenting contamination from urban regions to remote ecosystems and food/water supplies.

2024 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

Is plastic debris toxic ?

This work examines the toxicity of plastic debris, reviewing evidence on the chemical and physical harm posed by plastic particles and their associated contaminants to biological systems. The publication is part of the international scientific literature assessing whether plastic pollution constitutes a direct toxic hazard.

2024 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Article Tier 2

Hazardous chemicals in recycled and reusable plastic food packaging

This study examines how recycling and reusing plastics for food packaging can introduce hazardous chemicals, including endocrine disruptors and carcinogens, into food. Recycling concentrates chemical contaminants from previous uses, while reusable containers can leach harmful substances over repeated wash cycles. The findings highlight a tension between reducing plastic waste and ensuring food contact materials remain safe for human health.

2023 Cambridge Prisms Plastics 34 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Chemical Engineering Journal Advances 218 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding and Mitigating the Toxic Impacts of Microplastic Pollution on Environmental Health

This review covers the sources, types, and ecological impacts of microplastics as environmental contaminants, examining how polymer-specific properties such as chemical additives affect toxicity across ecosystems and discussing mitigation approaches including physical and chemical remediation.

2025 JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENT AND BIO-SCIENCE
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 theses.fr (ABES)
Article Tier 2

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.

2018 Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 756 citations
Article Tier 2

Tackling the toxics in plastics packaging

This review addresses the issue of hazardous chemicals migrating from plastic food packaging into food, including endocrine disrupters, carcinogens, and untested synthetic compounds. The author argues that current toxicity assessment methods for packaging chemicals are inadequate and that plastic packaging is an avoidable source of dietary chemical exposure. The study calls for systemic changes in how food packaging safety is regulated to address both plastic pollution and chemical contamination.

2021 PLoS Biology 80 citations
Article Tier 2

Marine Litter Plastics and Microplastics and Their Toxic Chemicals Components

This review examined the chemical hazards posed by marine plastic litter and microplastics, focusing on persistent organic pollutants, flame retardants, plasticisers, and endocrine-disrupting additives that can leach from plastic polymers into marine food webs. The authors concluded that both the physical and chemical toxicity of marine plastics represent a serious and undercharacterised threat to biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and human health via seafood consumption.

2020 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Examination of plastic’s hazards to human health underway

This study examined the multiple health hazards that plastics pose to humans across their entire life cycle, from fossil fuel extraction used as feedstocks through everyday use and disposal, conducting a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of exposure pathways and associated health effects.

2022 C&EN Global Enterprise
Article Tier 2

Evaluating nano- and microplastic particles as vectors of exposure for plastic additive chemicals using a food web model: Implications for risk to human health

This review evaluated nano- and microplastic particles as vectors for chemical exposure, examining how plastic additives and sorbed environmental contaminants leach from particles under environmentally relevant conditions. The analysis found that while leaching occurs, risks to human health at realistic environmental concentrations require further quantification.

2024 1 citations
Article Tier 2

(Micro)Plastics Are Toxic Pollutants

This review argues that microplastics should be considered toxic pollutants rather than merely physical hazards, citing evidence that they contain toxic chemicals within their structure and adsorb additional contaminants like PCBs, pesticides, and heavy metals from the environment. The study highlights research showing these chemicals can leach into the tissues of organisms that ingest microplastics, potentially causing harmful biological effects.

2023 Toxics 44 citations
Article Tier 2

The plastic in microplastics: A review

This review examined the chemical composition and diversity of plastics that become microplastics, summarizing the types of polymers found in the environment and their relevance for understanding ecological and health impacts.

2017 Marine Pollution Bulletin 2163 citations
Article Tier 2

The Dangers of Plastics to Public Health: A Review

This review summarizes how plastics and the microplastics they degrade into enter biological systems, interact with tissues and organs, and cause harm. It calls for greater public awareness and action to reduce plastic pollution given its growing threat to public health.

2020 NIPES Journal of Science and Technology Research 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental occurrence and ecotoxicological risks of plastic leachates in aquatic and terrestrial environments

This review examines how chemical additives that leach out of plastics -- including hormone disruptors like BPA and phthalates -- affect organisms in both water and land environments. The chemicals' harmful effects depend on environmental conditions like temperature and UV exposure, which influence how much leaches out and how easily organisms absorb it. The findings highlight that the danger of plastic pollution extends beyond the physical particles to the toxic chemicals they release.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Multiple Effects, Pathways, and Potential Health Risks from Environmental Microplastic Exposure

This review synthesizes nearly two decades of research on the multiple pathways through which environmental microplastics affect human and ecological health, including chemical toxicity, physical impacts, and potential roles as carriers of pathogens and contaminants.

2025 Toxics