A growing crisis for One Health: Impacts of plastic pollution across layers of biological function

Abstract

The global accumulation of plastic waste has reached crisis levels. The diverse and multilayered impacts of plastic on biological health prompts an evaluation of these effects from a One Health perspective, through which the complexity of these processes can be integrated and more clearly understood. Plastic particles ranging from nanometers to meters in size are found throughout every ecosystem on Earth, from the deepest marine trenches to the highest mountains. Plastic waste affects all layers of biological organization, from the molecular and cellular to the organismal, community, and ecosystem-levels. These effects are not only mediated by the physical properties of plastics, but also by the chemical properties of the plastic polymers, the thousands of additives combined with plastics during manufacturing, and the sorbed chemicals and microbes that are transported by the plastic waste. Using a One Health framework we provide an overview of the following themes: 1) ways in which plastic impacts global health across levels of biological organization, 2) how the effects of plastic interact between layers of biology, and 3) what knowledge gaps exist in understanding the effects of plastic within and between biological scales. We also propose potential solutions to address this growing crisis, with an emphasis on One Health perspectives that consider the oneness of animals, humans, and the environment.

Bioinspiration from bats and new paradigms for autonomy in natural environments

“…Besides agriculture and ecosystems monitoring, environmental clean-up constitutes a pressing environmental issue [43] that would require a high degree of efficiency that can likely only be realized with some degree of automation. An example for this would be the removal of plastic waste from land, water ways of all sizes, as well the oceans.…”

Multi‐scalar interactions between mismanaged plastic waste and urban flooding in an era of climate change and rapid urbanization

“…Studies have shown that rising consumption of plastic can be linked to markets, governance, regulatory systems, changing demographic patterns, and ideologies of modernity and what constitutes a good standard of living (Johnson & Bell, 2023). Environmental justice perspectives can further be incorporated to go beyond average demographic changes and GDP to give insights into uneven distribution of harm from exposure to MPW, such as differences between high‐ and low‐income groups within a city (Morrison et al, 2022).…”

A transdisciplinary approach to reducing global plastic pollution

“…Microplastics have been reported in human lung tissue (Amato-Lourenco et al, 2021), stool and colectomy samples (Schwabl et al, 2019;Ibrahim et al, 2021), blood (Leslie et al, 2022), and placentas (Ragusa et al, 2021). Plastics impact humans health across levels of biological organization (Morrison et al, 2022), including molecular and cellular processes (Banerjee and Shelver, 2021), tissue and organ systems (Wright and Kelly, 2017), and physiological responses (Karbalaei et al, 2018). Studies characterizing plastics' impact on human health are preliminary and primarily rely on laboratory experiments that simplify real-world exposures (WHO, 2022).…”