Plastic
and environment,
microplastics
and human health. So much is talked about (and so little is done) to curb the first issue, nothing is said about the second, in some respects even more serious. Insight.
Plastics and the environment
Global plastic production has increased almost 200 times in a few decades (from 1.7 to 335 million tons, between the 1950s and 2016) and so its waste, of which more than 8 million tons is dumped into the environment every year, on land and at sea. (1) Consumption still grows exponentially, so much so that demand is expected to quadruple between now and 2050. Concerns related to the invasion of plastics are related to several aspects:
(a) is a nonrenewable resource,
(b) absorbs organic pollutants,
(c) resists degradation,
(d) fragments into even microscopic residues,
(e) its debris causes injury and death of seabirds, mammals, fish and reptiles,
(f) its plastic debris can damage maritime equipment.
Microplastics, nanoplastics and platysphere
The term ‘microplastics’(MP) was coined by the group of Tompson and collaborators in 2004 to refer to ‘very small plastics, particulates and plastic fibers.’ The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has since defined as MPs all plastic particles having diameter <5 mm. MPs include nanoplastics(NPs), which are particles less than 0.1 μm (100 nm) in size and precisely because of their small size can potentially be easily absorbed by all tissues/organs of organisms, including cells.
Primary MPs are all micrometer-scale plastics, including those manufactured for industrial use and in consumer products such as hand and face cleansers, toothpastes, cosmetics, and medical products (drug nanovectors). Secondary MPs, on the other hand, are those that result from the breakdown of macroplastics, both at sea and on land, due to various environmental degradation processes-mechanical (erosion, wave action, abrasion), chemical (photooxidation, temperature, corrosion) biodegradation.
The dangers inherent in MPs are related to their ability to carry hazardous chemicals (including those intentionally added during production), as well as environmental contaminants that can be absorbed on their surface during their use and residence in the environment. Such as styrene, toxic metals (lead, mercury), phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Numerous chemical substances
used in the production of plastics, it should be noted, are recognized as very toxic to humans and animals, as carcinogens, endocrine disruptors
, neurotoxic. The toxicity of phthalates
and bisphenol A
, ubiquitous in the environment and in the human body, has been demonstrated in extensive animal studies and yet is overlooked by European legislators
.
Microbes and other organisms have been found on microplastics, in addition to physicochemical contaminants. Thus was coined the term ‘plastisphere‘. The figure is of great concern, as it is impossible to prevent the intercontinental geographic migration (through the seas and their inhabitants) and the spread of microplastics contaminated with invasive, even pathogenic, exotic species into the environment. Thus, it has been suggested that the platysphere may increase the global risk of human and animal diseases through new contamination and infection, as well as contribute to the loss of biodiversity. Thus causing other negative ecological and economic effects.
Microplastics and human health, sources and levels of exposure
The attention of researchers
has focused in recent years on the human health risks associated with a phenomenon that from the beginning has received essential consideration in terms of environmental pollution of soils and waters
. Humans, like animals, are exposed to particles and chemical additives released from plastic debris, which are spread throughout the biosphere. But what do we know about the impact of microplastics on human health? Human exposure to MPs can occur through two routes, diet And aerial inhalation.
1) Exposure through diet
MPs are found in every area of the planet. Very persistent in the environment, they accumulate especially in marine ecosystems at increasingly high levels. Thus, one of the first food sources of microplastics are marine organisms that absorb them either by ingestion (often mistaking them for food and prey) or through passive water filtration.
The phenomenon has been observed in numerous fish resources of commercial interest, including fish (cod, Atlantic horse mackerel, European sardine, red mullet and European sea bass), bivalve mollusks (mussels, oysters) and crustaceans (brown shrimp). MPs also have a negative impact on the health of marine animals themselves, among other things. Reduced food intake due to false sense of satiety, decreased growth rate and weight, reproductive complications, and behavioral changes that may threaten marine populations.
The gastrointestinal tract is the area of the fish where most of the MPs are found. The major source of MP exposure for humans is therefore fish species that are eaten whole such as shellfish, some crustaceans, and small fish. Their presence has been detected in bivalves for sale in fish markets-in Belgium, Canada and China-with plastic particle values between 0-10.5/g. It was therefore estimated that a European shellfish consumer could consume up to 11,000 MP/year. A study of seafood products in the form of canned products, canned sardines, found a maximum of 3 MP/box.
Sugar
and honey, salt
,
beer
and drinking water are some of the other food products where MPs have been detected. In the case of honey, MPs dispersed into the air as a result of rainfall are considered to be deposited on flowers, incorporated into pollen, and then transported by bees to hives. Recent work has shown significant contamination in a German beer (12-109 MP/l), attributed to atmospheric contamination during production. Based on the few other studies to date on food and beverages, the maximum annual consumption
per capita
are estimated at 37-1000 MP from sea salt and 4000 from pipeline water.
2) Exposure through airborne inhalation
This type of exposure overlaps with exposure from atmospheric particulate matter (PM) in that part of it is microplastics. The damage to health is consequently closely related to the size of the particles and their chemical composition. Nanoplastics can reach the deepest part of the alveoli, translocate into the circulatory system and thus reach any tissue/organ/cell in our body.
Human health, effects of micro- and nanoplastics
Studies in humans have demonstrated the transfer of microplastics of various types and sizes (0.1-150 mm), through the intestine, to the lymphatic system. And there was evidence of increased MP transport (0.45%, compared with 0.2% in controls on healthy individuals) in the colon of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, correlated with increased intestinal permeability. Because of their microscopic size, micro- and nanoparticles might find phagocytosis or endocytosis the preferred route of uptake. Moreover, the mere physical presence of MPs in the intestines can be toxic because of their inherent ability to induce intestinal blockages or tissue abrasions.
Studies
in-vitro
on human nerve cells have shown that MPs induce oxidative stress by generating reactive oxygen species. In recent work on an animal model given plastic microparticles (0.5 mg/day, polystyrene, 5- 20 mm), accumulation of particles in liver, kidney and intestines was demonstrated. Analysis of biochemical biomarkers and metabolomic profiles in the liver of mice also indicate oxidative stress-induced alteration and changes in lipid metabolism.
Nanoplastics-that is, invisible particles-are, moreover, causing the greatest concern. As has already been shown for ultrafine particles of atmospheric particulate matter, they can easily translocate across the various intestinal, blood-air, lung and brain barriers. Thus entering all cells.
The toxicity of NPs for humans is still completely unexplored, much to the detriment of the precautionary principles on which any European policy of potential impact on human and animal health should be based. Some studies on the risks of engineered nanoparticles are available, but extrapolation to NP toxicity is very delicate and requires further investigation, including consideration of volume-to-surface area ratios. Indeed, it is curious, an understatement, that the European Commission has not commissioned appropriate studies, crucial to the revision of the food safety framework and MOCAs(food contact materials)., plastic bags and disposable plastics, circular economy.
It is plausible that NPs may turn out to be an invisible ‘Trojan horse’ capable of carrying into every tissue of the human and animal body the toxic substances listed above, those absorbed into the environment, and additives used in plastic materials. One example is BPA (bisphenol A), which can migrate from polycarbonate into food and beverage products. This molecule induces alterations in liver function, insulin resistance, impaired reproductive system and brain function. BPA acts as an estrogen receptor agonist and inhibits thyroid hormone transcription, alters pancreatic beta cell function. Phthalate esters- themselves widely used as plasticizers to improve the flexibility and durability of various materials-can cause abnormalities in sexual development and defects in fetal development.
Conclusions
The adverse effects of microplastics and nanoplastics can result from a combination of the plastics’ intrinsic toxicity (e.g., physical damage), chemical composition (leaching of additives), and ability to absorb, concentrate, and release environmental pollutants into living organisms. They can also act as vectors for pathogens, leading to the dispersal of various species into new ecosystems. The few studies conducted so far on different foods need to be developed on other food matrices and evaluate the bioaccumulation of absorbed contaminants. Potential adverse effects on humans, on which confirmation or denial is still lacking.
EFSA-in the ‘technical report ipdate on EFSA’s activities on Emerging Risks 2012-2013′ – indicated the ‘food chain contamination from environmental pollution of micro plastic particles’. Only in May 2016 did his ‘Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM)’ published the report ‘Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood‘, concluded with the Solomonic statement that ‘No studies addressing the potential human health effects of microplastics ingested by humans through the food chain’ have been identified.
Except to include ‘Microplastic and nanoplastic particles in food in Horizon 2020′ as one of its priority research topics in 2017 under the Horizon 2020 plan (and without following it up, to the best of our knowledge).
The sleepy European institutions they also do something, never enough though. In September 2018, MEPs approved a plastics strategy that aims to increase recycling rates of plastic waste in the EU. The soon-to-expire European Commission was supposed to introduce a Europe-wide ban on the intentional addition of microplastics in cosmetics and detergents by 2020. Considering measures to minimize the release of microplastics from textiles, tires, paints and cigarette butts. Ad maiora. On 4.3.19, the Commission adopted its latest report. on the circular economy, which moreover remains focused on the macro-issue of plastics without addressing the far more critical aspects to which this article is devoted.
Paola Palestini and Dario Dongo
#Égalité!
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European Union
https://ec.europa.eu/research/sam/index.cfm?pg=pollution#
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC110629/jrc110629_final.pdf
https://ec.europa.eu/research/sam/pdf/topics/mp_statement_july-2018.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none
Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Medicine and Surgery, since 2000 at the University of Milan-Bicocca, since 2014 he has coordinated the master in Applied Nutrition and Dietetics (ADA) and is the holder of Biochemistry in numerous degree courses and specialization schools. She is a member of the scientific council of the POLARIS center (Dust in the Environment and Health Risk) of the University of Milan-Bicocca, for the study of environmental nano- and micro-particles and their impact on human health. She is the author of 75 papers - published in peer-rewiev international journals - on the impact of environmental factors (food and air pollution) on health. She co-author of the book 'Mamma mia diet' (ed. Hatherleigh, 2018), aimed at promoting the Mediterranean diet in the world.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
