Emerging Technologies to Advance Research and Decisions on the Environmental Health Effects of Microplastics

Plastics have become incredibly important in the modern world and are used for purposes for which other materials are unsuitable. As a result, demand for plastics is expected to increase globally for the foreseeable future. However, tiny bits of plastics, known as microplastics, have been increasing in the environment—in the air, water, soil, and food. As yet, relatively little is known about the health effects of these microplastics. On January 27–28, 2020, 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. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.