Seite - 228 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?
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researchfield—italso indicates thecomplexityof theproblemcalling for scientific
methods inorder to identifyandquantify theconsequencesfor theenvironmentand
for humanhealth [10].
The traditional approach to environmental risk assessment of chemical sub-
stances cannot do justice to themultitudeofmicroplastic particles and intervening
variables and, therefore, cannot be applied to determining “safe” or “hazardous”
levels of microplastics in natural environments [37]. Microplastics are not a
homogenous group of substances, and they stem fromvarious sources. The phys-
icochemical properties ofmicroplastics are as diverse as their sources.Theydiffer
in theirpolymericcomposition, theiradditives,andhavevariousshapesandsizes—
all characteristics that can influence their biological effects.Microplastics can be
toxic due to associated substances likephthalates andBPA[38], they can result in
physical damagedue to their shape [39], and they can induce indirect effects after
being ingested, suchas reduced foodconsumptiondue to satiation (malnutritionor
even starvation) or intestinal blockage leading to death. Furthermore, biological
effects are linked to other environmental contaminants such as persistent organic
pollutants (POPs) that are absorbed by microplastic particles [40]. The lack of
specific adverse effects leads to great uncertainty regarding predictions of the
environmental consequences. These uncertaintieswere already expressed in early
studies ofmicroplastics around 30 years ago. However, despite these knowledge
gaps, theproblemwasaddressedpragmaticallyat that time:microplasticsdetected
innaturalwatersandproventobeingestedbyaquaticorganismsweredenotedasan
“unnecessary contaminant” [33] that is “in all likelihoodnot beneficial” [41]. 0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80
100
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Year
Publication title includes
other terms, e.g. pellets,
particles, fragments,
granules...
Publication title includes
the term "microplastics"
Fig.1 Environmental studiesonplasticparticles from1970 to today.Thefigureshows the rising
number of studies in recent years, especially since the introduction of the term “microplastics.”
Studies were obtained from the search engines “Google Scholar” and “Web of Science.” Key-
words for the search were: microplastics Ăľ environment; plastic particles/fragments/pellets/
granules/spheres/fibersĂľ environment
228 J.KrammandC.V€olker
Freshwater Microplastics
Emerging Environmental Contaminants?
- Titel
- Freshwater Microplastics
- Untertitel
- Emerging Environmental Contaminants?
- Autoren
- Martin Wagner
- Scott Lambert
- Verlag
- Springer Open
- Datum
- 2018
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-61615-5
- Abmessungen
- 15.5 x 24.1 cm
- Seiten
- 316
- Kategorien
- Naturwissenschaften Chemie