Keywords
microplastics
nanoplastics
plastisphere
bacterial transfer
chemical leaching
endocrine disruption
public health
environmental health
How to Cite
Abstract
Plastic pollution has become a cross-cutting environmental and public health concern because persistent plastic materials fragment into microplastics and nanoplastics, interact with chemicals and microorganisms, and move across ecological compartments. This systematic review synthesised contemporary evidence on ecological effects, plastisphere microbial dynamics, chemical leaching, toxicological outcomes, human exposure, and public health implications. Three parallel searches were conducted for literature published from 2007 to 2026, yielding approximately 4.9 million aggregated search results; 135 records were retained for eligibility assessment and 50 studies were included in the evidence synthesis. The literature indicates that plastic pollution affects marine, freshwater, terrestrial, and urban systems through physical contamination, habitat modification, chemical exchange, and altered microbial communities. Plastics can provide persistent surfaces for biofilm development and may facilitate the transport of potentially pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, although evidence linking plastic-associated microbial carriage directly to human infection remains limited. Chemical evidence indicates that additives and sorbed contaminants can migrate from plastic materials, with weathering, ultraviolet radiation, temperature, polymer properties, and biofilm formation influencing release. Human health literature identifies plausible pathways involving ingestion, inhalation, and dermal exposure and reports associations with oxidative stress, inflammation, endocrine disruption, reproductive effects, immune dysregulation, and other biological responses. However, population-level causal evidence remains less developed than mechanistic and experimental evidence. The findings support lifecycle plastic governance, stronger waste infrastructure, controls on chemicals of concern, standardised monitoring, and interdisciplinary epidemiological and environmental research.
References
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