Microplastics pollution in water is a threat for human health and the environment (literature review)

View or download the full article: 
PDF icon health-risk-analysis-2023-3-17.pdf
UDC: 
614.878.086
DOI: 
10.21668/health.risk/2023.3.17.eng
Authors: 

O.O. Sinitsyna1, G.B. Yeremin2, V.V. Turbinskii1, M.V. Pushkareva1, M.A. Shiryaeva1, O.L. Markova2, D.S. Borisova2

Organization: 

1Federal Scientific Center of Hygiene named after F.F. Erisman, 2 Semashko St., Mytischi, Moscow region, 141000, Russian Federation
2North-West Scientific Centre for Hygiene and Public Health, 4A 2nd Sovetskaya St., St. Petersburg,
191036, Russian Federation

Abstract: 

Microplastics pollution of water bodies and drinking water is a relevant problem caused by wide use of plastics in multiple industries, agriculture, manufacturing of household chemicals and medicines. Microplastics pose a threat for human health both due to physical effects and chemicals in their structure as well as microorganisms that can occur on their surface.

Some foreign studies describe how microplastics are formed and how they can occur both in marine and fresh water. There are also studies confirming microplastics to be present in seas and rivers in the Russian Federation.

Studies that address microplastics in tissues of water organisms are scarce. According to some foreign authors, micro-plastics can be absorbed by mollusks, starfish, actiniae, crabs, etc. Russian researchers provide evidence of considerable quantities of microplastics found in the digestive spruce fish caught in the Tom River. Several foreign studies have established effects produced by microplastics on reproduction, eating behavior as well as declining survivability in crustaceans and fish.

Fish products are a well-known significant source of microplastics in human diets. Microplastics bioaccumulation in aquatic biota is considered a potential health threat for organisms at higher trophic levels, including humans at the top of the food chain.

Unified water sampling techniques are absent; studies that address effects of microplastics on the human body are scarce; there is no available methodology for hygienic standardization of microplastics in water. All this makes it necessary to have some research aimed at identifying sources and causes of microplastics pollution in water bodies including sources of drinking water supply, to assess public health risks, and to provide safe conditions for water use.

Keywords: 
microplastics, water bodies, drinking water, risk factor, human health, bioaccumulation, negative impacts, biota, water pollution
Sinitsyna O.O., Yeremin G.B., Turbinskii V.V., Pushkareva M.V., Shiryaeva M.A., Markova O.L., Borisova D.S. Micro-plastics pollution in water is a threat for human health and the environment (Literature review). Health Risk Analysis, 2023, no. 3, pp. 158–165. DOI: 10.21668/health.risk/2023.3.17.eng
References: 
  1. Plastics – the facts 2020. PlasticsEurope, 2020, 64 p.
  2. Smolkina A.A. On the results of the first meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC-1) to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. Toksikologicheskii vestnik, 2023, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 65 (in Russian).
  3. Thompson R.C., Olsen Y., Mitchell R.P., Davis A., Rowland S.J., John A.W.G., McGonigle D., Russell A.E. Lost at sea: where is all the plastic? Science, 2004, vol. 304, no. 5672, pp. 838. DOI: 10.1126/science.1094559
  4. Boucher J., Friot D. Primary microplastics in the oceans: a global evaluation of sources. Gland, Switzerland, IUCN, 2017, 43 p. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.CH.2017.01.en
  5. Bejgarn S., MacLeod M., Bogdal C., Breitholtz M. Toxicity of leachate from weathering plastics: An exploratory screening study with Nitocra spinipes. Chemosphere, 2015, vol. 132, pp. 114–119. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.03.010
  6. Marcilla Gomis A., Garcıa S., Garcıa-Quesada J.C. Study of the migration of PVC plasticizers. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 2004, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 457–463. DOI: 10.1016/S0165-2370(03)00131-1
  7. Vom Saal F.S., Hughes C. An extensive new literature concerning low-dose effects of bisphenol A shows the need for a new risk assessment. Environ. Health Perspect., 2005, vol. 113, no. 8, pp. 926–933. DOI: 10.1289/ehp.7713
  8. Microfiber pollution and the apparel industry. University of California Santa Barbara, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, 2016. Available at: http://brenmicroplastics.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/7/0/51702815/bren-patago... (April 16, 2023).
  9. Napper I.E., Thompson R.C. Release of synthetic microplastic plastic fibres from domestic washing machines: Effects of fabric type and washing conditions. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 2016, vol. 112, no. 1–2, pp. 39–45. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.09.025
  10. Dalla Fontana G., Mossotti R., Montarsolo A. Influence of sewing on microplastic release from textiles during washing. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 2021, vol. 232, no. 2, pp. 1–9. DOI: 10.1007/s11270-021-04995-7
  11. Periyasamy A.P. Evaluation of microfiber release from jeans: the impact of different washing conditions. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int., 2021, vol. 28, no. 41, pp. 58570–58582. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-14761-1
  12. Raja Balasaraswathi S., Rathinamoorthy R. Effect of fabric properties on microfiber shedding from synthetic textiles. The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2022, vol. 113, no. 5, pp. 789–809. DOI: 10.1080/00405000.2021.1906038
  13. Andrady A.L. Microplastics in the marine environment. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 2011, vol. 62, no. 8, pp. 1596–1605. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.05.030
  14. Belzagui F., Crespi M., Álvarez A., Gutiérrez-Bouzán C., Vilaseca M. Microplastics' emissions: Microfibers’ de-tachment from textile garments. Environ. Pollut., 2019, vol. 248, pp. 1028–1035. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.02.059
  15. De Falco F., Di Pace E., Cocca M., Avella M. The contribution of washing processes of synthetic clothes to micro-plastic pollution. Sci. Rep., 2019, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 6633. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-43023-x
  16. Song K., Li Z., Liu D., Li L. Analysis of the partial nitrification process affected by polyvinylchloride microplastics in treating high-ammonia anaerobic digestates. ACS Omega, 2020, vol. 5, no. 37, pp. 23836–23842. DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c03079
  17. Shen J., Liang B., Zhang D., Li Y., Tang H., Zhong L., Xu Y. Effects of PET microplastics on the physiology of Dro-sophila. Chemosphere, 2021, vol. 283, pp. 131289. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131289
  18. Abbasi S., Moore F., Keshavarzi B., Hopke P.K., Naidu R., Mahmudur Rahman M., Oleszczuk P., Karimi J. PET-microplastics as a vector for heavy metals in a simulated plant rhizosphere zone. Sci. Total Environ., 2020, vol. 744, pp. 140984. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140984
  19. Dong J., Li L., Liu Q., Yang M., Gao Z., Qian P., Gao K., Deng X. Interactive effects of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) microplastics and salinity variation on a marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Chemosphere, 2022, vol. 289, pp. 133240. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.133240
  20. Intentionally added microplastics to products. ECHA Workshop May, 2019, pp. 30–31.
  21. Eriksen M., Lebreton L.C.M., Carson H.S., Thiel M., Moore C.J., Borerro J.C., Galgani F., Ryan P.G., Reisser J. Plastic pollution in the world's oceans: more than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons afloat at sea. PLoS One, 2014, vol. 9, no. 12, pp. e111913. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111913
  22. Bagaev A., Esiukova E., Litvinyuk D., Chubarenko I., Veerasingam S., Venkatachalapathy R., Verzhevskaya L. Investi-gations of plastic contamination of seawater, marine and coastal sediments in the Russian seas: a review. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int., 2021, vol. 28, no. 25, pp. 32264–32281. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-14183-z
  23. Frank Yu.A., Vorobiev E.D., Rakhmatullina S.N., Trifonov A.A., Vorobiev D.S. Screening of microplastic сontent in surface waters of Russian rivers. Ekologiya i promyshlennost' Rossii, 2022, vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 67–71. DOI: 10.18412/1816-0395-2022-9-67-71 (in Russian).
  24. Lusher A.L., Welden N.A., Sobral P., Cole M. Sampling, isolating and identifying microplastics ingested by fish and invertebrates. Anal. Methods, 2017, vol. 9, pp. 1346–1360. DOI: 10.1039/C6AY02415G
  25. Fang C., Zheng R., Zhang Y., Hong F., Mu J., Chen M., Song P., Lin L. [et al.]. Microplastic contamination in benthic organisms from the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Chemosphere, 2018, vol. 209, pp. 298–306. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.06.101
  26. Fang C., Zheng R., Hong F., Jiang Y., Chen J., Lin H., Lin L., Lei R. [et al.]. Microplastics in three typical benthic species from the Arctic: Occurrence, characteristics, sources, and environmental implications. Environ. Res., 2021, vol. 192, pp. 110326. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110326
  27. Peng L., Fu D., Qi H., Lan C.Q., Yu H., Ge C. Micro- and nano-plastics in marine environment: Source, distribution and threats – A review. Sci. Total Environ., 2020, vol. 698, pp. 134254. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134254
  28. Lin V.S. Research highlights: impacts of microplastics on plankton. Environ. Sci. Process. Impacts, 2016, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 160–163. DOI: 10.1039/c6em90004f
  29. Ganichev P.A. Human health effects of microplastics in drinking water: a review. ZNiSO, 2021, vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 40–43. DOI: 10.35627/2219-5238/2021-29-9-40-43 (in Russian).
  30. Mason S.A., Welch V.G., Neratko J. Synthetic polymer contamination in bottled water. Front. Chem., 2018, vol. 6, pp. 407. DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2018.00407
  31. Ding J., Zhang S., Mamitiana Razanajatovo R., Zou H., Zhu W. Accumulation, tissue distribution, and biochemical effects of polystyrene microplastics in the freshwater fish red tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Environ. Pollut., 2018, vol. 238, pp. 1–9. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.03.001
  32. Atamanalp M., Köktürk M., Uçar A., Avni Duyar H., Özdemir S., Parlak V., Esenbuğa N., Alak G. Microplastics in tissues (brain, gill, muscle and gastrointestinal) of Mullus barbatus and Alosa immaculate. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 2021, vol. 81, no. 3, pp. 460–469. DOI: 10.1007/s00244-021-00885-5
  33. Fan S., Yan Z., Qiao L., Gui F., Li T., Yang Q., Zhang X., Ren C. Biological effects on the migration and transforma-tion of microplastics in the marine environment. Mar. Environ. Res., 2023, vol. 185, pp. 105875. DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.105875
  34. Rotchell J.M., Jenner L.C., Chapman E., Bennett R.T., Olapeju Bolanle I., Loubani M., Sadofsky L., Palmer T.M. Detection of microplastics in human saphenous vein tissue using μFTIR: A pilot study. PLoS One, 2023, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. e0280594. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280594
  35. Yee M.S.-L., Hii L.-W., Looi C.K., Lim W.-M., Wong S.-F., Kok Y.-Y., Tan B.-K., Wong C.-Y., Leong C.-O. Impact of microplastics and nanoplastics on human health. Nanomaterials (Basel), 2021, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 496. DOI: 10.3390/nano11020496
Received: 
14.06.2023
Approved: 
18.09.2023
Accepted for publication: 
25.09.2023

You are here

Home