Confronting plastic pollution to protect environmental and public health
2021-03-30
(Press-News.org) Some 8,300 million metric tons of plastics have been manufactured since production exploded in the 1950s, with more than 75 percent ending up as waste and 15 million metric tons reaching oceans every year. Plastic waste fragments into increasingly smaller but environmentally persistent "microplastics," with potentially harmful effects on the health of people, wildlife and ecosystems. A new collection, "Confronting Plastic Pollution to Protect Environmental and Public Health," is publishing on March 30th, 2021 in the open access journal PLOS Biology that addresses critical scientific challenges in understanding the impacts of microplastics.
The collection features three evidence-based commentaries from ecotoxicology and environmental health experts that address gaps in understanding and flag research priorities for improving methods to detect, evaluate, and mitigate threats associated with this emerging contaminant. The guest editor of the collection is Judith Enck, former EPA regional administrator, president of the nonprofit Beyond Plastics and visiting professor at Bennington College's Center for the Advancement of Public Action.
Plastic production increased from 2 million metric tons a year in 1950 to 380 million metric tons by 2015 and is expected to double by 2050. The plastic pollution crisis will worsen, experts say, as petrochemical companies shift from fossil fuels to fracking, which produces the plastic feedstock ethane.
The commentaries explores pressing challenges in three areas: the difficulty of developing health protective policies for emerging contaminants, the migration of toxic and undisclosed plastic additives into food and understanding how microplastics, a form of carbon themselves, impact carbon cycling in soils.
In the Essay, "Addressing the environmental and health impacts of microplastics requires open collaboration between diverse sectors," ecotoxicologist Scott Coffin and colleagues use California as a case study to suggest strategies to design research, policies and regulations for a contaminant scientists are just starting to understand, drawing on parallels with a similar class of emerging contaminants (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
In her Essay, "Tackling the toxics in plastics packaging," environmental toxicologist Jane Muncke focuses on a major driver of the global plastic pollution crisis: single-use food packaging. Efforts to reduce plastic waste through recycling ignore evidence that chemicals in plastic migrate into food, she argues, making harmful chemicals an unintentional part of the human diet.
In their Essay, "Microplastic effects on carbon cycling processes in soils," plant ecologist Matthias Rillig and colleagues explore how microplastics appear to be interfering with the very fabric of the soil environment itself and call for a "major concerted effort" to understand the pervasive effects of these ubiquitous particles on the function of soils and terrestrial ecosystems.
INFORMATION:
Peer-reviews; Essay
In your coverage please use these URLs to provide access to the freely available articles in PLOS Biology: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001131
Citation: Gross L, Enck J (2021) Confronting plastic pollution to protect environmental and public health. PLoS Biol 19(3): e3001131. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001131
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.
Competing Interests: Liza Gross is a current paid employee of the Public Library of Science.
Articles in the collection:
Coffin S, Wyer H, Leapman JC. Addressing the environmental and health impacts of microplastics requires open collaboration between diverse sectors. PloS Biol. 2021. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000932
Muncke J. Tackling the toxics in plastics packaging. PLoS Biol. 2021. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000961
Rillig M, Leifheit E, Lehmann J. TK. Microplastic effects on carbon cycling processes in soils. PLoS Biol. 2021. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001130
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-03-30
RESTON, Va. - Greater sage-grouse populations have declined significantly over the last six decades, with an 80% rangewide decline since 1965 and a nearly 40% decline since 2002, according to a new report by the U.S. Geological Survey. Although the overall trend clearly shows continued population declines over the entire range of the species, rates of change do vary regionally.
The report represents the most comprehensive analysis of greater sage-grouse population trends ever produced and lays out a monitoring framework to assess those trends moving forward. The study can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of greater sage-grouse conservation efforts and analyze factors that contribute to habitat loss and population change -- all critical ...
2021-03-30
(Philadelphia, PA) - The human heart works under high demand, constantly pumping oxygen-rich blood through the body. When faced with disease, however, fulfilling this demand can become increasingly difficult and harmful. In the case of chronic high blood pressure - a leading cardiovascular disease in the United States - the heart continuously overexerts, resulting in maladaptive growth and, ultimately, severe dysfunction of the heart muscle itself.
Maladaptive growth of the heart, known as cardiac hypertrophy, is brought about in part by activation of G protein-coupled kinase ...
2021-03-30
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis reported the first observations of a new form of fluorine, the isotope 13F, described in the journal Physical Review Letters.
They made their discovery as part of an experiment conducted at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University (MSU).
Fluorine is the most chemically reactive element on the periodic table. Only one isotope of fluorine occurs naturally, the stable isotope 19F. The new isotope, 13F, is four neutrons removed from the proton drip line, the boundary that delimits the zone beyond which atomic nuclei decay by the emission ...
2021-03-30
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- More than just a sign of illness, mucus is a critical part of our body's defenses against disease. Every day, our bodies produce more than a liter of the slippery substance, covering a surface area of more than 400 square meters to trap and disarm microbial invaders.
Mucus is made from mucins -- proteins that are decorated with sugar molecules. Many scientists are trying to create synthetic versions of mucins in hopes of replicating their beneficial traits. In a new study, researchers from MIT have now generated synthetic mucins with a polymer backbone that more accurately mimic the structure and function of naturally occurring mucins. The team also showed that these synthetic mucins could effectively neutralize the bacterial toxin that causes cholera.
The ...
2021-03-30
A study conducted at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, shows that compounds produced by gut microbiota (bacteria and other microorganisms) during fermentation of insoluble fiber from dietary plant matter do not affect the ability of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 to enter and replicate in cells lining the intestines. However, while in vitro treatment of cells with these molecules did not significantly influence local tissue infection, it reduced the expression of a gene that plays a key role in viral cell entry and a cytokine receptor that favors inflammation.
An ...
2021-03-30
HERSHEY, Pa. -- Stress, increased free time and feelings of boredom may have contributed to an increase in the number of cigarettes smoked per day during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic by nearly a third of surveyed Pennsylvania smokers. Penn State College of Medicine researchers said understanding risk factors and developing new strategies for smoking cessation and harm reduction may help public health officials address concerning trends in tobacco use that may have developed as a result of the pandemic.
Jessica Yingst, assistant professor of public health sciences and Penn State Cancer Institute researcher, said smokers who increased the number of cigarettes they smoked per day could be at greater risk of dependence and have a more difficult ...
2021-03-30
March 30, 2021 - As cancer survival rates improve, more people are living with the aftereffects of cancer treatment. For some patients, these issues include chronic radiation-induced skin injury - which can lead to potentially severe cosmetic and functional problems.
Recent studies suggest a promising new approach in these cases, using fat grafting procedures to unleash the healing and regenerative power of the body's natural adipose stem cells (ASCs). "Preliminary evidence suggests that fat grafting can make skin feel and look healthier, restore lost soft tissue volume, and help alleviate pain and fibrosis in patients with radiation-induced skin injury ...
2021-03-30
Giant trees in tropical forests, witnesses to centuries of civilization, may be trapped in a dangerous feedback loop according to a new report in Nature Plants from researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama and the University of Birmingham, U.K. The biggest trees store half of the carbon in mature tropical forests, but they could be at risk of death as a result of climate change--releasing massive amounts of carbon back into the atmosphere.
Evan Gora, STRI Tupper postdoctoral fellow, studies the role of lightning in tropical forests. Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert, lecturer at the University of Birmingham, studies the effects of climate change in the Amazon. The two teamed up ...
2021-03-30
PULLMAN, Wash. - Washington State University researchers have discovered a protein that could be key to blocking the most common bacterial cause of human food poisoning in the United States.
Chances are, if you've eaten undercooked poultry or cross contaminated food by washing raw chicken, you may be familiar with the food-borne pathogen.
"Many people that get sick think, 'oh, that's probably Salmonella,' but it is even more likely it's Campylobacter," said Nick Negretti ('20 Ph.D.), a lead member of the research team in Michael Konkel's Laboratory in WSU's School of Molecular Biosciences.
According to a study on the research recently published ...
2021-03-30
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Researchers from Brown University have discovered a previously unknown type of ancient crater lake on Mars that could reveal clues about the planet's early climate.
In a study published in Planetary Science Journal, a research team led by Brown Ph.D. student Ben Boatwright describes an as-yet unnamed crater with some puzzling characteristics. The crater's floor has unmistakable geologic evidence of ancient stream beds and ponds, yet there's no evidence of inlet channels where water could have entered the crater from outside, and no evidence ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Confronting plastic pollution to protect environmental and public health
