An emerging class of air pollutants: Potential effects of microplastics to respiratory human health?

Autor: Amato-Lourenço LF; Institute of Advanced Studies (IEA) Global Cities Program, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: luisfamato@usp.br., Dos Santos Galvão L; Chemical Analyses Laboratory, Institute for Technological Research (IPT), São Paulo, Brazil., de Weger LA; Department of Pulmonology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands., Hiemstra PS; Department of Pulmonology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands., Vijver MG; Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands., Mauad T; Institute of Advanced Studies (IEA) Global Cities Program, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2020 Dec 20; Vol. 749, pp. 141676. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Aug 13.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141676
Abstrakt: It is increasingly recognized that the ubiquity of convenient single-use plastic has resulted in a global plastic pollution challenge, with substantial environmental and health consequences. Physical, chemical, and biological processes result in plastic weathering, with eventual formation of debris in the micro to nano size range. There is an increasing awareness that plastic fragments are dispersed in the air and can be inhaled by humans, which may cause adverse effects on the respiratory system and on other systems. Urban environments are often characterized by high concentrations of fine airborne dust from various sources. To date, however, there is limited information on the distribution, shape, and size of microplastics in the air in urban and other environments. In this article, we review and discuss our current understanding of the exposure characteristics of airborne plastic debris in urbanized areas, focusing on concentration, size, morphology, presence of additives and distributions of different polymers. The natural and extend data are compiled and compared to laboratory-based analyses to further our understanding of the potential adverse effects of inhaled plastic particles on human health.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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