Microplastics 2025: The Health Effects Synopsis

Despite the demonstrated ubiquity of microplastics in both the environment and the human body, the clear determination of health effects remains elusive. This webinar discusses the reasons for these challenges and provides a briefing on our current understanding of microplastics toxicology.

With the science of microplastics sampling and analysis steadily advancing, studies detecting these contaminants in a myriad of locations and in exponentially increasing numbers are proliferating rapidly. For example, recent research has not only identified microplastics as virtually ubiquitous in the Antarctic environment (one of the remotest corners of the Earth), but also quantified significant accumulation in human brain tissue, adding to the list of anatomical detections, which includes the lungs, blood, placenta, liver, and kidney. Such occurrences have driven regulatory interest, with California and New Jersey implementing formal regulatory programs to better understand microplastics in drinking water and numerous other states likewise considering some type of action. However, occurrence does not necessarily imply health risk, and unfortunately, our understanding of the former is outpacing the latter.

Not only are in vivo studies (i.e., in living organisms) inherently difficult to conduct, but the challenge is compounded by the diversity of potentially important attributes that comprise the broad category of contaminants labeled “microplastics,” which vary in size, morphology (shape), surface area, surface roughness (weathering), and polymer type. Moreover, secondary contaminants can sorb onto microplastics, which can subsequently serve as a vector for additional adverse health effects; this phenomenon itself exhibits wide potential variation, with sorption potential dependent on the secondary contaminant itself, the microplastics polymer type, surface area, surface roughness, and surface charge. In addition, because commercially available plastic polymers that break down to become microplastics contain a wide array of proprietary fit-for-purpose additives, the desorption of these additives can also have a potentially toxic impact in human cells. Despite these persistent uncertainties (or perhaps motivated by them), efforts to positively establish linkages between microplastics and adverse health outcomes (if any) are proceeding around the globe, and with burgeoning interest by lawmakers, regulators, media, and consumers, the drinking water treatment community needs to keep apprised of the latest findings.

Thus, the goal of this webinar is to provide a substantive update on the contemporary understanding of microplastics' health effects, focusing on three parts: 1) the complexities of microplastics as a drinking water contaminant; 2) the potential impact of microplastics themselves; and 3) the toxicity of polymer additives.

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