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      Risks of Plastic Debris: Unravelling Fact, Opinion, Perception, and Belief

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          Abstract

          Researcher and media alarms have caused plastic debris to be perceived as a major threat to humans and animals. However, although the waste of plastic in the environment is clearly undesirable for aesthetic and economic reasons, the actual environmental risks of different plastics and their associated chemicals remain largely unknown. Here we show how a systematic assessment of adverse outcome pathways based on ecologically relevant metrics for exposure and effect can bring risk assessment within reach. Results of such an assessment will help to respond to the current public worry in a balanced way and allow policy makers to take measures for scientifically sound reasons.

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          Plastic and human health: a micro issue?

          Stephanie L Wright, Frank Kelly (2017)
          Microplastics are a pollutant of environmental concern. Their presence in food destined for human consumption and in air samples has been reported. Thus, microplastic exposure via diet or inhalation could occur, the human health effects of which are unknown. The current review article draws upon cross-disciplinary scientific literature to discuss and evaluate the potential human health impacts of microplastics and outlines urgent areas for future research. Key literature up to September 2016 relating to bioaccumulation, particle toxicity, and chemical and microbial contaminants were critically examined. Whilst this is an emerging field, complimentary existing fields indicate potential particle, chemical and microbial hazards. If inhaled or ingested, microplastics may bioaccumulate and exert localised particle toxicity by inducing or enhancing an immune response. Chemical toxicity could occur due to the localised leaching of component monomers, endogenous additives, and adsorbed environmental pollutants. Chronic exposure is anticipated to be of greater concern due to the accumulative effect which could occur. This is expected to be dose-dependent, and a robust evidence-base of exposure levels is currently lacking. Whilst there is potential for microplastics to impact human health, assessing current exposure levels and burdens is key. This information will guide future research into the potential mechanisms of toxicity and hence therein possible health effects.
          Article 0 comments Cited 658 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Adverse outcome pathways: a conceptual framework to support ecotoxicology research and risk assessment.

            Gerald Ankley, Richard S. Bennett, Russell Erickson … (2010)
            Ecological risk assessors face increasing demands to assess more chemicals, with greater speed and accuracy, and to do so using fewer resources and experimental animals. New approaches in biological and computational sciences may be able to generate mechanistic information that could help in meeting these challenges. However, to use mechanistic data to support chemical assessments, there is a need for effective translation of this information into endpoints meaningful to ecological risk-effects on survival, development, and reproduction in individual organisms and, by extension, impacts on populations. Here we discuss a framework designed for this purpose, the adverse outcome pathway (AOP). An AOP is a conceptual construct that portrays existing knowledge concerning the linkage between a direct molecular initiating event and an adverse outcome at a biological level of organization relevant to risk assessment. The practical utility of AOPs for ecological risk assessment of chemicals is illustrated using five case examples. The examples demonstrate how the AOP concept can focus toxicity testing in terms of species and endpoint selection, enhance across-chemical extrapolation, and support prediction of mixture effects. The examples also show how AOPs facilitate use of molecular or biochemical endpoints (sometimes referred to as biomarkers) for forecasting chemical impacts on individuals and populations. In the concluding sections of the paper, we discuss how AOPs can help to guide research that supports chemical risk assessments and advocate for the incorporation of this approach into a broader systems biology framework.
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              Effects of nanopolystyrene on the feeding behavior of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis L.).

              G. Wegner, E Besseling, E Foekema … (2012)
              As the industrial production of nanoplastic and the degradation of microplastic into smaller particles at sea increase, the potential amount of nanoplastics in the marine environment rises. It has been reported that mussels uptake 100-nm polystyrene (PS) beads; to date, however, the effects of this uptake on the organism are unknown. In the present study, the authors investigated the effects of 30-nm PS on the feeding behavior of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) by exposing the organism to different nano PS and different algae (Pavlova lutheri) concentrations. The state of nano PS aggregation in the exposure medium was assessed using dynamic light scattering. In all treatments that contained nano PS, M. edulis produced pseudofeces. The total weight of the feces and pseudofeces increased with increasing nano PS and increasing algae concentration. Furthermore, M. edulis reduced its filtering activity when nano PS was present but still caused a decrease in the apparent nano PS concentration in the water. The presence of nano PS around the foot of M. edulis after the bioassay confirmed that the organism removed nano PS from the water. Chronic effect studies are therefore needed to investigate the effects of nanoplastics in M. edulis and possible consequences for its predators, including humans.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Environ Sci Technol
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Environ. Sci. Technol
                Journal ID (publisher-id): es
                Journal ID (coden): esthag
                Title: Environmental Science & Technology
                Publisher: American Chemical Society
                ISSN (Print): 0013-936X
                ISSN (Electronic): 1520-5851
                Publication date (Electronic): 03 October 2017
                Publication date (Print): 17 October 2017
                Volume: 51
                Issue: 20
                Pages: 11513-11519
                Affiliations
                [† ]Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management group, Wageningen University & Research , P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
                [‡ ]Wageningen Marine Research , Den Helder, The Netherlands
                [§ ]Marine Animal Ecology group, Wageningen University & Research , Wageningen, The Netherlands
                [∥ ]KWR Watercycle Research Institute , Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
                [⊥ ]Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University , Utrecht, The Netherlands
                [# ]National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) , Bilthoven, The Netherlands
                Author notes
                Article
                DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b02219
                PMC ID: 5677762
                PubMed ID: 28971682
                SO-VID: f07227e7-821a-4c23-8cc8-37c903165e51
                Copyright © Copyright © 2017 American Chemical Society
                License:

                This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial No Derivative Works (CC-BY-NC-ND) Attribution License, which permits copying and redistribution of the article, and creation of adaptations, all for non-commercial purposes.

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                Subject: Feature
                Custom metadata
                document-id-old-9 es7b02219
                document-id-new-14 es-2017-02219z
                ccc-price

                ScienceOpen disciplines: General environmental science
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                ScienceOpen disciplines: General environmental science

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