Unraveling the micro- and nanoplastic predicament: A human-centric insight.

Micro- and nanoplastics are vast anthropogenic pollutants in our direct surroundings with a robust environmental stability and a potential for a long-lasting and increasing global circulation. This has raised concerns among the public and policy makers for human health upon exposure to these particles. The micro- and nanoplastic burden on humans is currently under debate, along with criticism on the experimental approaches used in hazard assessment. The present review presents an overview of the human-relevant aspects associated with the current micro-and nanoplastic burden. We focus on environmental circulation and the estimation of exposure quantities to humans, along with a state-of-the-art overview of particle accumulation in over 15 human organs and other specimen. Additionally, data regarding particle characteristics used in toxicity testing was extracted from 91 studies and discussed considering their environmental and human relevance.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Sybren De Boever reports financial support was provided by the Research Foundation Flanders. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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