Emerging Technologies to Advance Research and Decisions on the Environmental Health Effects of Microplastics Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief (2020) / Chapter Skim
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Emerging Technologies to Advance Research and Decisions on the Environmental Health Effects of Microplastics: Proceedings of a Workshop - in Brief
Emerging Technologies to Advance Research and Decisions on the Environmental Health Effects of Microplastics: Proceedings of a Workshop - in Brief
Pages 1-12
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On January 27–28, 2020, the Standing Committee on the Use of Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop to explore emerging technologies to advance research on and improve decisions about the environmental health effects of microplastics. The workshop brought together a multidisciplinary group of experts in environmental health, the presence and behavior of plastics in the environment, agriculture, wastewater treatment, and science policy to discuss what is known about microplastics and environmental health, what research is needed to fill gaps in current knowledge, and how emerging science could help address these gaps to provide an improved basis for public policy.
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The WHO report stated that "Based on this limited body of evidence, firm conclusions on the risk associated with ingestion of microplastic particles through drinking-water cannot yet be determined; however at this point, no data suggests overt health concerns associated with exposure to microplastic particles through drinking-water."4 However, Law added, this carefully crafted statement from the report does not say that no health effects exist, and WHO did call for more research to address the many unknowns about microplastics in the environment. Law stated "I'm sure we would all agree that really the path to solutions should be informed by the best available science.
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Generally speaking, microplastic particles tend to be removed rapidly from the bodies of shellfish, so there is little accumulation in their tissues and probably little human health risk from eating mussels and oysters. Characterizing Microplastics in the Context of Risk Assessment Understanding the risks posed by microplastics in the environment will require collecting a tremendous amount of data -- and the right sort of data, said Bart Koelmans, a professor of aquatic ecology and water quality at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
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" asked Mark Hahn, the panel moderator. Koelmans answered that the ability to study the rates of aging and weathering in situ is a challenge, partly because of the formation of biofilms, which affect how the microplastic particles behave and how they reach ecological receptors.
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Evaluating Human Exposures to Microplastics in Air and Water Environmental health scientists have well-developed methods for evaluating the health risks of various environmental exposures, for example, asbestos or various toxic chemicals. Based on that, Greg Zarus of the U.S.
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In closing, Palanisami stated that although "the available evidence suggests the health risks associated with ingesting microplastics and the chemicals associated with them are minimal, the studies so far contain significant data gaps, which need to be corrected in future research." Microplastics in Seafood Garth Covernton, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, discussed the question of human exposure levels to microplastics from eating seafood.
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Second Panel Discussion Gina Solomon then moderated a panel discussion to explore how to characterize human exposure and health risks. She first asked Nigel Walker of the National Toxicology Program (NTP)
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REDUCING MICROPLASTICS IN THE ENVIRONMENT The third session addressed how to reduce the level of microplastics in the environment. Each of the four speakers described different approaches: instituting new policies, biodegradation, wastewater treatment, and an improved recycling approach called "up-cycling." Preventing Secondary Sources of Microplastic in the Environment Rebecca Traldi of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
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Carr said that he and his colleagues in the Los Angeles County sanitation districts had become interested in microplastics about 5 years earlier when a group of reporters showed up at their facilities and started asking questions about how their wastewater treatment plants handled microplastics. "We had no answers," he said.
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NEW APPROACHES TO INFORMING PUBLIC HEALTH AND POLICY DECISIONS The workshop's final session, which was moderated by Kevin Elliott of Michigan State University, a member of the workshop planning committee, was devoted to examining how the emerging science and technology discussed in the earlier sessions could be applied to policy making and decision making. Mary Ellen Ternes, a partner in the law firm Earth & Water Law, LLC, began the session with an overview of the U.S.
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Once it is clear what is in drinking water and what its health effects are, one could begin discussing which policies are appropriate. Gary Ginsberg of the New York State Department of Health and a member of the parent Standing Committee on Use of Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions suggested that it would be valuable to have life-cycle economic analyses of plastics, considering both their value and their cost to society.
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The statements made are those of the rapporteurs or individual meeting participants and do not necessarily represent the views of all meeting participants, the planning committee, or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES TO ADVANCE RESEARCH AND DECISIONS ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EFFECTS OF MICROPLASTICS: This workshop was organized by the following experts: Kevin Elliott, Michigan State University; Mark Hahn, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Kathleen McDonough, Procter & Gamble Company; Anil Patri, U.S.
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