Alexandra Foetisch, Montserrat Filella, Benjamin Watts, Maeva Bragoni, Moritz Bigalke
{"title":"After the sun: a nanoscale comparison of the surface chemical composition of UV and soil weathered plastics.","authors":"Alexandra Foetisch, Montserrat Filella, Benjamin Watts, Maeva Bragoni, Moritz Bigalke","doi":"10.1186/s43591-023-00066-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s43591-023-00066-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Once emitted into the environment, macro- (MaP), micro- (MP) and nanoplastics (NP) are exposed to environmental weathering. Yet, the effects of biogeochemical weathering factors occurring in the soil environment are unknown. As the transport, fate, and toxicity of MP and NP depend directly on their surface properties, it is crucial to characterize their transformation in soils to better predict their impact and interactions in this environment. Here, we used scanning transmission x-ray micro spectroscopy to characterize depth profiles of the surface alteration of environmental plastic debris retrieved from soil samples. Controlled weathering experiments in soil and with UV radiation were also performed to investigate the individual effect of these weathering factors on polymer surface alteration. The results revealed a weathered surface on a depth varying between 1 µm and 100 nm in PS, PET and PP environmental plastic fragments naturally weathered in soil. Moreover, the initial step of surface fragmentation was observed on a PS fragment, providing an insight on the factors and processes leading to the release of MP and NP in soils. The comparison of environmental, soil incubated (for 1 year) and UV weathered samples showed that the treatments led to different surface chemical modifications. While the environmental samples showed evidence of alteration involving oxidation processes, the UV weathered samples did not reveal oxidation signs at the surface but only decrease in peak intensities (indicating decrease of the number of chemical C bonds). After a one-year incubation of samples in soil no clear aging effects were observed, indicating that the aging of polymers can be slow in soils.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43591-023-00066-2.</p>","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":"3 1","pages":"18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10400702/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10325424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C Lauren Mills, Joy Savanagouder, Marcia de Almeida Monteiro Melo Ferraz, Michael J Noonan
{"title":"The need for environmentally realistic studies on the health effects of terrestrial microplastics.","authors":"C Lauren Mills, Joy Savanagouder, Marcia de Almeida Monteiro Melo Ferraz, Michael J Noonan","doi":"10.1186/s43591-023-00059-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s43591-023-00059-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plastic pollution is now so widespread that microplastics are regularly detected in biological samples surveyed for their presence. Despite their pervasiveness, very little is known about the effects of microplastics on the health of terrestrial vertebrates. While emerging studies are showing that microplastics represent a potentially serious threat to animal health, data have been limited to in vivo studies on laboratory rodents that were force fed plastics. The extent to which these studies are representative of the conditions that animals and humans might actually experience in the real world is largely unknown. Here, we review 114 papers from the peer-reviewed literature in order to understand how the concentrations and types of microplastics being administered to rodents in lab studies compare to those found in terrestrial soils. From 73 in vivo lab studies, and 41 soil studies, we found that lab studies have heretofore fed rodents microplastics at concentrations that were hundreds of thousands of times greater than they would be exposed to in nature. Furthermore, health effects have been studied for only 20% of the microplastic polymers that are known to occur in soils. Plastic pollution is arguably one of the most pressing ecological and public health issues of our time, yet existing lab-based research on the health effects of terrestrial microplastics does not reflect the conditions that free-ranging vertebrates are actually experiencing. Going forward, performing more true-to-life research will be of the utmost importance to fully understand the impacts of microplastics and maintain the public's faith in the scientific process.</p><p><strong>Graphical abstract: </strong></p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43591-023-00059-1.</p>","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":"3 1","pages":"11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10202987/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9527318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael J Noonan, Nicole Grechi, C Lauren Mills, Marcia de A M M Ferraz
{"title":"Microplastics analytics: why we should not underestimate the importance of blank controls.","authors":"Michael J Noonan, Nicole Grechi, C Lauren Mills, Marcia de A M M Ferraz","doi":"10.1186/s43591-023-00065-3","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s43591-023-00065-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent years have seen considerable scientific attention devoted towards documenting the presence of microplastics (MPs) in environmental samples. Due to omnipresence of environmental microplastics, however, disentangling environmental MPs from sample contamination is a challenge. Hence, the environmental (collection site and laboratory) microplastics contamination of samples during processing is a reality that we must address, in order to generate reproducible and reliable data. Here we investigated published literature and have found that around 1/5 of studies failed to use blank controls in their experiments. Additionally, only 34% of the studies used a controlled air environment for their sample processing (laminar flow, fume hood, closed laboratory, clean room, etc.). In that regard, we have also shown that preparing samples in the fume hood, leads to more microplastics > 1 μm) contamination than preparing it in the laboratory bench and the laminar flow. Although it did not completely prevent microplastics contamination, the processing of sample inside the laminar flow is the best option to reduce sample contamination during processing. Overall, we showed that blank controls are a must in microplastics sample preparation, but it is often overlooked by researchers.</p><p><strong>Graphical abstract: </strong></p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43591-023-00065-3.</p>","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":"3 1","pages":"17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10390371/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10307892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maria Bille Nielsen, Lauge Peter Westergaard Clausen, Richard Cronin, Steffen Foss Hansen, Nikoline Garner Oturai, Kristian Syberg
{"title":"Unfolding the science behind policy initiatives targeting plastic pollution.","authors":"Maria Bille Nielsen, Lauge Peter Westergaard Clausen, Richard Cronin, Steffen Foss Hansen, Nikoline Garner Oturai, Kristian Syberg","doi":"10.1186/s43591-022-00046-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43591-022-00046-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The intensive global plastic production, use and associated plastic pollution have caused concern for the potential risks to human health and the environment. This has led to the adoption of numerous regulatory initiatives aiming to combat plastic pollution. Despite the considerable regulatory activity in the field of plastic, it appears that there is still debate about the actual risks of plastic to humans and the environment. This raises the question of to what extent the current plastic regulation is evidence-based, a declared ambition in the European Union. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate to what extent key policy initiatives targeting plastic pollution are based on scientific evidence. Selection of initiatives was based on expert elicitation accounting for the opinions of persons involved in the development of the policy initiatives, and a thorough assessment of the historical development of plastic pollution regulation, with focus on their importance both with respect to regulation of plastics as well as their historical importance as drivers for societal actions on plastic pollution. We find that scientific evidence appears to be generally present in the scientific foundation for the policy initiatives analysed in this study. All the initiatives are supported by scientific articles and reports about among others plastic sources, ecological impacts of plastic production and consumption patterns. Marine litter monitoring data was found to contribute to the evidence base for 4 out of the 6 policy initiatives and thereby appears to be one of the central scientific drivers behind the societal actions on plastic pollution. Other scientific tools applied when shaping the policy initiatives include risk assessment, impact assessment and life cycle assessment. Despite the prevalent consideration and application of scientific evidence, there seems to be a broad recognition in the preparatory work of the initiatives that there is still a lot of uncertainty related to determining the harm of plastic pollution. In these cases, taking precautionary actions seems however to be justified, recalling not least the precautionary principle. As the issue of plastic pollution is complex and still subject to uncertainty, it seems important both that policy initiatives allow for flexibility and continuing adjustment to the on-going knowledge generation and that the scientific community provides the needed research to continue the science-informed policy development.</p>","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":"3 1","pages":"3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9894511/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9237386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Extraction and concentration of nanoplastic particles from aqueous suspensions using functionalized magnetic nanoparticles and a magnetic flow cell.","authors":"Mark C Surette, Denise M Mitrano, Kim R Rogers","doi":"10.1186/s43591-022-00051-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s43591-022-00051-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although a considerable knowledge base exists for environmental contamination from nanoscale and colloidal particles, significant knowledge gaps exist regarding the sources, transport, distribution, and effects of microplastic pollution (plastic particles < 5 mm) in the environment. Even less is known regarding nanoplastic pollution (generally considered to be plastic particles < 1 μm). Due to their small size, nanoplastics pose unique challenges and potential risks. We herein report a technique focused on the concentration and measurement of nanoplastics in aqueous systems. Hydrophobically functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (HDTMS-FeNPs) were used as part of a method to separate and concentrate nanoplastics from environmentally relevant matrices, here using metal-doped polystyrene nanoplastics (PAN-Pd@NPs) to enable low-level detection and validation of the separation technique. Using a magnetic separation flow cell, PAN-Pd@NPs were removed from suspensions and captured on regenerated cellulose membranes. Depending on the complexity of solution chemistry, variable extraction rates were possible. PAN-Pd@ NPs were recovered from ultrapure water, synthetic freshwater, synthetic freshwater with a model natural organic matter isolate (NOM; Suwannee River Humic Acid), and from synthetic marine water, with recoveries for PAN-Pd@NPs of 84.9%, 78.9%, 70.4%, and 56.1%, respectively. During the initial method testing, it was found that the addition of NaCl was needed in the ultrapure water, synthetic freshwater and synthetic fresh water with NOM to induce particle aggregation and attachment. These results indicate that magnetic nanoparticles in combination with a flow-through system is a promising technique to extract nanoplastics from aqueous suspensions with various compositions.</p>","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":" ","pages":"2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10624164/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48634766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joana Marie Sipe, Jaleesia D Amos, Robert F Swarthout, Amalia Turner, Mark R Wiesner, Christine Ogilvie Hendren
{"title":"Bringing sex toys out of the dark: exploring unmitigated risks.","authors":"Joana Marie Sipe, Jaleesia D Amos, Robert F Swarthout, Amalia Turner, Mark R Wiesner, Christine Ogilvie Hendren","doi":"10.1186/s43591-023-00054-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43591-023-00054-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A majority of American adults report having used sex toys, which, by design, interact with intimate and permeable body parts yet have not been subject to sufficient risk assessment or management. Physical and chemical data are presented examining potential risks associated with four types of currently available sex toys: anal toy, beads, dual vibrator, and external vibrator. A standardized abrasion machine made real-time breakdown of products into microplastics and nanoplastics. The microplastics from the sex toys were then solvent extracted and analyzed using GC-MS. Rates of microplastics and nanoplastics released during abrasion testing from most microplastic release to least was the anal toy, beads, dual vibrator, external vibrator. Both micro- and nanoplastics particles were generated following the abrasion test, with the 50 percentile diameters (D50) ranging from the anal beads at 658.5 μm, dual vibrator at 887.83 μm, anal toy at 950 μm, and external vibrator at 1673.33 μm. The material matrix of each product was analyzed using ATR-FTIR, with results identifying the anal toy as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the anal beads as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the external vibrator as a silicone blend (polydimethylsiloxane [PDMS]), and the dual vibrator as a rubber mixture (polyisoprene). After extraction, phthalates known to be endocrine disruptors were present in all tested sex toys at levels exceeding hazard warnings. Analogous findings have been reported for similar materials that, when incorporated into other product categories, are subject to regulatory scrutiny in both the US and EU. This data set is not intended to be representative of sex toys as an entire class of products, nor are the abrasion experiments claiming to simulate exact use conditions. However, these exploratory data frame potential concerns, highlighting research questions and the need for prompt prioritization of protective action. Therefore, future studies and multi-stakeholder action are needed to understand and reduce risk for this class of products.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43591-023-00054-6.</p>","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":"3 1","pages":"6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10034881/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9552627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Davi R. Munhoz, P. Harkes, N. Beriot, J. Larreta, O. C. Basurko
{"title":"Microplastics: A Review of Policies and Responses","authors":"Davi R. Munhoz, P. Harkes, N. Beriot, J. Larreta, O. C. Basurko","doi":"10.3390/microplastics2010001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/microplastics2010001","url":null,"abstract":"Although (micro)plastic contamination is a worldwide concern, most scientific literature only restates that issue rather than presenting strategies to cope with it. This critical review assembles the current knowledge on policies and responses to tackle plastic pollution, including peer-reviewed scientific literature, gray literature and relevant reports to provide: (1) a timeline of policies directly or indirectly addressing microplastics; (2) the most up-to-date upstream responses to prevent microplastics pollution, such as circular economy, behavioral change, development of bio-based polymers and market-based instruments as well as source-specific strategies, focusing on the clothing industry, tire and road wear particles, antifouling paints and recreational activities; (3) a set of downstream responses tackling microplastics, such as waste to energy, degradation, water treatment plants and litter clean-up strategies; and examples of (4) multifaceted responses focused on both mitigating and preventing microplastics pollution, e.g., approaches implemented in fisheries and aquaculture facilities. Preventive strategies and multifaceted responses are postulated as pivotal to handling the exacerbated release of microplastics in the environment, while downstream responses stand out as auxiliary strategies to the chief upstream responses. The information gathered here bridges the knowledge gaps on (micro)plastic pollution by providing a synthesized baseline material for further studies addressing this environmental issue.","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":"131 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73116646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effect of Polystyrene Microplastics in Different Diet Combinations on Survival, Growth and Reproduction Rates of the Water Flea (Daphnia magna)","authors":"M. Isinibilir, K. M. Eryalçın, A. Kideys","doi":"10.3390/microplastics2010002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/microplastics2010002","url":null,"abstract":"Microplastic pollution is a problem not only in the marine environment but also in freshwater ecosystems. Water flea (Daphnia magna) is one of the most common omnivorous cladocerans in freshwater ecosystems. In this study, the potential effects of microplastics (fluorescent polystyrene beads with dimensions of 6 microns) on the survival, growth and reproduction of Daphnia magna were examined during 21 days of laboratory experiments. Microplastics (MPs) were observed to be ingested alone or along with either the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris (Cv) or baker’s yeast (By). D. magna fed exclusively with microplastics showed a drastic decline in survival similar to that in the starving group. The least growth in total length or width was observed in Daphnia specimens fed only MPs and the starved groups. Daphia fed with a mixture of MPs/Cv or MPs/By produced a significantly (p < 0.05) lower number of ephippia. Our results show that high concentrations of microplastics adversely affect Daphnia magna populations.","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82176237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Sonke, A. Koenig, N. Yakovenko, O. Hagelskjær, H. Margenat, S. Hansson, F. De Vleeschouwer, O. Magand, G. Le Roux, Jennie L. Thomas
{"title":"A mass budget and box model of global plastics cycling, degradation and dispersal in the land-ocean-atmosphere system","authors":"J. Sonke, A. Koenig, N. Yakovenko, O. Hagelskjær, H. Margenat, S. Hansson, F. De Vleeschouwer, O. Magand, G. Le Roux, Jennie L. Thomas","doi":"10.1186/s43591-022-00048-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43591-022-00048-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45253779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yasmin Adomat, Melanie Kahl, Fabian Musche, T. Grischek
{"title":"Evaluation of microplastics sediment sampling techniques—efficiency of common methods and new approaches","authors":"Yasmin Adomat, Melanie Kahl, Fabian Musche, T. Grischek","doi":"10.1186/s43591-022-00047-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43591-022-00047-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74190,"journal":{"name":"Microplastics and nanoplastics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48863848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}