Microplastics as vector for heavy metal contamination from the marine environment

Brennecke, Dennis; Duarte, Bernardo; Paiva, Filipa; Canning‐Clode, João

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2015.12.003

Cited by 1,264 publications

(367 citation statements)

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“…Microplastics with size <1000 µm frequently founded on marine organism digestive tract [16,18,19,40], suggesting that marine organisms likely mistake microplastics as their food [41]. Microplastics could disrupt digestive tract function [17] and could also act as a vector for organic and heavy metal pollutants [21][22][23]42,43]. The most common form was fiber microplastics, similar to the findings by [28,33,44,45].…”

Section: Figuresupporting

confidence: 67%

“…[15][16][17][18][19], but the impact of the accumulation to the organisms are not known. Microplastics could enter the food web by organism ingestion [20], could interference digestive tract function [17], and may act as a carrier for organic material and heavy metals [21][22][23]. Sumba, located in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, is a pristine region in the outlet of Indonesian Through Flow (ITF) connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplastics in Sumba waters, East Nusa Tenggara

Cordova

Hernawan

2018

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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Abstract. The accumulation of plastic debris in the oceans has been widely recognized as a threat to marine environment. A recent study estimated that Indonesia is one of the biggest sources of plastic wastes in the ocean, but directly-measured abundance data from the seawater in Indonesia is lacking. We documented the abundance and distribution of microplastics (size <5mm) in sub-surface seawaters of Sumba, a pristine region in Indonesia. Water samples were collected from 5 m, 50 m, 100 m, 300 m depth and near the sea bottom. Samples were examined for microplastics using flotation and filtration methods. We found microplastic in all sampling locations, consisting of fibers (45.45%), granules (36.36%) and other plastic form (18.18%). Most of microplastic particles were found at water depths less than 100 m (81.82%), which was the thermocline area. Our finding corroborates the believe that plastics has widely invaded marine environment in different parts of the seas and oceans, including pristine, remote, and unknown areas.

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Section: Figuresupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in Sumba waters, East Nusa Tenggara

Cordova

Hernawan

2018

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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“…Beached pellets had higher equilibrium partition constants relative to water for several metals than virgin plastic beads from the same polymer (Holmes et al., , ). Similarly, adsorption of copper and zinc from seawater was higher for aged (sun‐exposed) PVC and polystyrene fragments than for their virgin counterparts (Brennecke et al., ). The partitioning coefficients for copper and zinc binding to aged PVC beads in seawater were 850 and 200, respectively, compared with 33 and 32 for virgin PVC pellets (Brennecke et al., ).…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 98%

Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood

Hoogenboom¹

2016

EFS2

370

193

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Following a request from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the EFSA Panel for Contaminants in the Food Chain was asked to deliver a statement on the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood. Primary microplastics are plastics originally manufactured to be that size, while secondary microplastics originate from fragmentation. Nanoplastics can originate from engineered material or can be produced during fragmentation of microplastic debris. Microplastics range from 0.1 to 5,000 μm and nanoplastics from approximately 1 to 100 nm (0.001–0.1 μm). There is no legislation for microplastics and nanoplastics as contaminants in food. Methods are available for identification and quantification of microplastics in food, including seafood. Occurrence data are limited. In contrast to microplastics no methods or occurrence data in food are available for nanoplastics. Microplastics can contain on average 4% of additives and the plastics can adsorb contaminants. Both additives and contaminants can be of organic as well of inorganic nature. Based on a conservative estimate the presence of microplastics in seafood would have a small effect on the overall exposure to additives or contaminants. Toxicity and toxicokinetic data are lacking for both microplastics and nanoplastics for a human risk assessment. It is recommended that analytical methods should be further developed for microplastics and developed for nanoplastics and standardised, in order to assess their presence, identity and to quantify their amount in food. Furthermore, quality assurance should be in place and demonstrated. For microplastics and nanoplastics, occurrence data in food, including effects of food processing, in particular, for the smaller sized particles (< 150 μm) should be generated. Research on the toxicokinetics and toxicity, including studies on local effects in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, are needed as is research on the degradation of microplastics and potential formation of nanoplastics in the human GI tract.

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“…The majority of studies in this area have targeted persistent organic micropollutants, like polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that are sorbed to the plastic surface (Frias et al, 2010;Rochman et al, 2013;Gauquie et al, 2015;Ziccardi et al, 2016;Hong et al, 2017). However, attention has recently been paid to the occurrence and impacts of chemical elements in litter, like metals, metalloids and halogens, that are either adsorbed to the plastic or incorporated into the polymer itself (Boucher et al, 2016;Brennecke et al, 2016;Nakashima et al, 2016;Turner, 2016;Turner and Solman, 2016). While recent empirical evidence and models suggest that the exposure and accumulation of adsorbed compounds or elements may have been overstated in the literature (Herzke et al, 2016), inorganic additives of the plastic matrix, including flame retardants, catalysts and heavy metal-based pigments, appear to represent a more significant source of contaminants to the foodchain (Rani et al, 2015;Massos and Turner, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observational Study Unveils the Extensive Presence of Hazardous Elements in Beached Plastics from Lake Geneva

Filella

Turner

2018

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Over 3,000 samples of plastic litter have been retrieved from 12 pebble beaches around the shores of Lake Geneva. The plastic stock consisted of identifiable objects of various size and color, including bottles, bottle tops, cotton buds, pens, toys, and straws, an heterogeneous assortment of fragments whose origin was either discernible or unknown, and pieces or blocks of expanded polymer (polystyrene or polyurethane foam). Analysis of 670 samples by portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry revealed high concentrations of hazardous elements or compounds among many plastics. These included Cd, Hg, and Pb (with maximum concentrations of 6,760, 810, and 23,500 ppm, respectively) as stabilizers in PVC-based materials and/or brightly-colored sulfide or chromate pigments in primary and secondary plastics, and Br (with a maximum concentration of 27,400 ppm) as a proxy for brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in both plastics and foams. The abundance of hazardous elements in beached plastics that have been restricted or banned reflect the age and residence time of the plastic stock in the lake, coupled with a relatively high length of shoreline to surface area of the system. The migratability of hazardous elements from the polymeric matrix is likely to determine their environmental impacts and is recommended as a future area of research.

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Microplastics as vector for heavy metal contamination from the marine environment

Cited by 1,264 publications

References 37 publications

Microplastics in Sumba waters, East Nusa Tenggara

Microplastics in Sumba waters, East Nusa Tenggara

Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood

Observational Study Unveils the Extensive Presence of Hazardous Elements in Beached Plastics from Lake Geneva

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