A Children's Health Perspective on Nano- and Microplastics.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pregnancy, infancy, and childhood are sensitive windows for environmental exposures. Yet the health effects of exposure to nano- and microplastics (NMPs) remain largely uninvestigated or unknown. Although plastic chemicals are a well-established research topic, the impacts of plastic particles are unexplored, especially with regard to early life exposures.

Objectives

This commentary aims to summarize the knowns and unknowns around child- and pregnancy-relevant exposures to NMPs via inhalation, placental transfer, ingestion and breastmilk, and dermal absorption.

Methods

A comprehensive literature search to map the state of the science on NMPs found 37 primary research articles on the health relevance of NMPs during early life and revealed major knowledge gap

SUBMITTER: Sripada K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8791070 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature