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Scientists have demonstrated the presence of microplastics (MPs) in tap and bottled water at various locations. On a global scale, there is still very limited information on MP pollution in drinking water. There are huge differences in reported MP concentration, but no clear conclusion can be drawn if MP content is higher in tap or bottled water. Up to date, it is not clear if these discrepancies arise from differences between the examined systems or from differences in quantification limits, the accuracy of the applied analytical techniques, or contamination during sampling, processing, and analysis. Furthermore, information on MP uptake and fate gained through animal and cell toxicity studies is very limited. To define a limit of tolerance for plastic pollution in drinking water, comparable data resulting from quality assured and controlled methods and more information on the potential uptake and fate of MPs in the human body are still needed.

In recent years, the occurrence of microplastics in the aquatic environment has gathered increasing scientific interest. Several studies have shown that the ingestion of microplastics may negatively influence the physiology of marine organisms having different feeding strategies, particularly in those species which cannot discriminate between food sources. Recent studies highlighted the potential for such particles to accumulate in the food web, posing risks to human health via the consumption of seafood. Furthermore, early findings also indicated the role of microplastics as vectors of chemical pollutants either used as additives during synthesis of the plastics or adsorbed directly from seawater, i.e., PAHs, PCB, and surfactants. Despite the importance of microplastics in adsorption and transport of hydrophobic pollutants, little is known about their distribution and accumulation in marine food webs, or their direct and indirect harmful effects. The Adriatic Sea represents a semi-enclosed basin with a low water recirculation rate and high anthropogenic pressures associated with unsustainable fishing and inputs of contaminants. The body burden, accumulation rates, polymer composition, and recurring morphotypes of microplastics in native blue mussels (M. galloprovincialis) were examined. Organisms collected offshore were compared to those collected in coastal areas. Microplastics were recovered from the soft tissues of all analyzed mussels. Coastal organisms showed a load of 1.06-1.33 fragments g-1 (wet weight) and 0.62-0.63 fibers g-1 (wet weight) while offshore organisms showed an accumulation of 0.65-0.66 fragments g-1 (wet weight) and 0.24-0.35 fibers g-1 (wet weight). The size class distribution revealed a marked prevalence of smaller particles (20 μm to 40 μm range) and the most recurring polymer type in analyzed organisms was PE followed by PP, PET, and equal amounts of PS, PLY, and PVC. A significant site-, time-, and oceanographic-related distribution trend was observed. Based on the findings presented here, there is a clear need to implement a seafood safety monitoring program to better understand actual human health-related risks.

This study reports the shapes, dimensional classes, types and counts of microplastics (MPs) found in 23 individuals of N. norvegicus collected from two wild populations of the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean basin). The focus was on three different anatomical compartments (gut, hepatopancreas and tail), which were analysed separately. MPs were found in all the investigated individuals with an average of about 17 MPs/individual. Fragments were predominant over fibers with a ratio of about 3:1. The majority of MPs were in the dimensional range 50–100 μm. The predominant polymers were polyester, polyamide 6, polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene, which together constitute about 61% of all the MPs found. Fragments were more concentrated in the hepatopancreas, with no significant difference between gut and tail, while fibers were more concentrated in the gut than in the tail with hepatopancreas somehow in between. The dimensional class of the MPs influences their anatomical distribution. There were no statistical differences among individuals from the two sampling sites. Sex of the individual did not influence the level of retained MPs, while length had a very marginal effect. The information reported here contributes to understanding of the possible risks linked to human consumption of different tissues from contaminated Norway lobsters.

While it seems indisputable that potable water contains microplastics (MP), the actual concentrations are much debated and reported numbers vary many orders of magnitude. It is difficult to pinpoint the cause of these differences, but it might be variation between waters, variation between quantification methods, and that some studies did not live up to rigorous analytical standards. Despite the urgent need to understand human exposure by drinking water, there is a lack of trustable methods generating reliable data. Essentially, proper MP assessment requires that quality assurance is in place and demonstrated, that an adequate volume of drinking water is assessed, and that differences in analytical methods are understood. This study presents a systematic and robust approach where MP down to 6.6 µm were assessed in potable water distribution systems in terms of quantity, size, shape, and material. For the first time, sub-samples were analysed by two of the most validated and complementary analytical techniques: µFTIR imaging and Py-GCMS. Both methods successfully determined low contents in drinking water. However, µFTIR and Py-GCMS identified different polymer types in samples with overall low MP content. With increasing concentration of a given polymer type, the values determined by the techniques became more comparable. Most detected MPs were smaller than 150 µm, and 32 % were smaller than 20 µm. Our results indicate a potential annual uptake of less than one MP per person, suggesting that drinking potable water produced at a high-performance drinking water treatment plant represents a low risk for human health.

Microplastics as a potential health and environmental problem has gained increasing attention recently. Microplastics are defined as plastic pieces smaller than 5 mm in diameter, and there are many sources of such microplastics [17]. Current literature reports that microplastics are ubiquitous worldwide. While several authors report on fragments of different polymers being observed, practically in all environmental areas of marine [3, 5, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19], freshwater [1, 20] and terrestrial ecosystems [2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9]; others point out that the accumulation of micro and nanometer-sized plastic particles throughout the marine and terrestrial food webs, is posing a risk to marine and terrestrial life, and ultimately to human health [18]. Despite studies pointing out the occurrence of micro plastics in freshwater systems including surface and groundwater basins, very little is known about the occurrence of microplastics in drinking water and their implications on human health. According to WHO, men should consume 3 L and women should consume 2.2 L of beverage per day. Most of these beverages consist of tap water, or drinks derived from tap water. The risk of plastic uptake from drinking water is currently unpredictable and furthermore, these plastic particles add to the plastic potentially consumed in other sources, such as sea salt, beer, food and seafood. Recent publication indicates that drinking water, uptake through seafood, and airborne exposure are the main sources of microplastics in humans [15].

In recent years, microplastics (MPs), normally defined as plastic particles with a diameter less than 5 mm, are emerging contaminants ubiquitously present in all the compartments of the aquatic ecosystem from surface water to benthic sediment, including aquatic biota [1, 2]. In the marine environment, MPs can be originated from two sources: manufactured products that contain microplastics, e.g. cosmetic products, and fragments released form larger plastic debris through photooxidation, mechanical action and biodegradation [3].

Communities value water and aquatic environments for a many diverse reasons. Ensuring safe drinking water is prioritized on the political agenda with a dedicated focus on safe and affordable drinking water under the 6th of the UN sustainable development goals. The occurrence of micron sized plastic fragments has been confirmed even in very remote areas. In the present study we analysed drinking water of a medium-sized Norwegian urban area for the presence of microplastics ≥ 1 µm. A modular filtering sampling devices was developed allowing a sequential in-situ enzymatic and mild oxidizing driven sample preparation prior to pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry sample’s analysis (pyr-GCMS). Samples were taken at different stages of the drinking water supply chain. The total amount of polymers per sites ranged from 6.1 to 93.1 µg/m3. Higher levels were detected in the raw water, but significant reduction rates ranging from 43% to 100% depending on the polymer type were scored after the water treatment processes. Polyethylene, polyamide, and polyester were the most frequently detected polymer types. Overall, the levels of MPs in the raw water influence the occurrence and polymer type occurrence and distribution is the drinking water supply net. This study contributes to the emerging field of plastics pollution in drinking water supply systems by providing effective methods helping with future routine monitoring of this source of human plastic uptake.

Plastic waste is of increasing concern in the aquatic environment. A large proportion of plastic waste is generated onshore from where it eventually reaches the marine environment, which is considered the main sink of plastic debris To date there is a substantial lack of knowledge on the composition of these accumulated polymers, their environmental levels and distribution in marine and coastal areas. Current efforts are underway to develop standardized methods to characterize and quantify the occurrence of microplastic in different environmental matrices using microscopy-oriented methods using Fourier Transformed Infra-Red (FTIR) or Raman techniques. However, time-consuming sample preparation, processing and interpretation of complex data limits their use within monitoring programs. As an alternative, a thermal degradation method based on a gas chromatographic mass spectrometer coupled with pyrolysis represents a validated method for qualitative and quantitative polymer analyses. A technique has been developed that combines sample preparation and thermo-analysis for identifying microplastics in samples of marine sediment. Quantification and polymeric composition of plastic particles found in sediment samples taken from ten sites located in Boknafjorden subjected to diverse sources of pollution and anthropogenic pressure were investigated. Plastic microparticles were extracted from 8 kg of wet sediments per site, purified, size-fractionated thorough a set of stainless-steel certified sieves covering the range of 10–250 μm mesh size, pre-concentrated on fiberglass filters and whole filters analyzed by thermal desorption pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Most of the detected polymers were identified as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinylchloride, polystyrene or polyamide. In most of the sites, the largest fraction of the extracted micro debris fell in the size range 10–40 μm. Some shifts in size distribution were also observed in some sites and were likely related to the marine sea bottom currents and the influence of specific anthropogenic activities. The adopted thermal degradation method showed good sensitivity, reliability and rapidity and therefore represents a promising technique for microplastic analysis within monitoring activities.

Plastic is widely used in everyday life being one of the more versatile materials ever produced. The rising demand of plastic items to support the societal development has dramatically boosted the annual plastic production from 1.5 in the 1950s to 311 million tonnes in 2014 (PlasticEurope in Plastic-the Facts 2015: an analysis of European plastic production, demand, and waste data, 2014). The dark side of the plastic revolution is the marine pollution, with an estimated amount of 9.5 million tonnes of new plastic waste flowing into the oceans each year (Boucher and Friot in Primary microplastics in the oceans: a global evaluation of sources. IUCN, Gland, p. 43, 2017).

Micro-plastic particles in the world's oceans represent a serious threat to both human health and marine ecosystems. Once released into the aquatic environment plastic litter is broken down to smaller pieces through photo-degradation and the physical actions of waves, wind, etc. The resulting particles may become so small that they are readily taken up by fish, crustaceans and mollusks. There is mounting evidence for the uptake of plastic particles by marine organisms that form part of the human food chain and this is driving urgent calls for further and deeper investigations into this pollution issue. The present study aimed at investigating for the first time the occurrence, amount, typology of microplastic litter in the gastrointestinal tract of Solea solea and its spatial distribution in the northern and central Adriatic Sea. This benthic flatfish was selected as it is a species of high commercial interest within the FAO GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) area 37 (Mediterranean and Black Sea) where around 15% of the overall global Solea solea production originates. The digestive tract contents of 533 individuals collected in fall during 2014 and 2015 from 60 sampling sites were examined for microplastics. These were recorded in 95% of sampled fish, with more than one microplastic item found in around 80% of the examined specimens. The most commonly found polymers were polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene, polyester, and polyamide, 72% as fragments and 28% as fibers. The mean number of ingested microplastics was 1.73 ± 0.05 items per fish in 2014 and 1.64 ± 0.1 in 2015. PVC and PA showed the highest densities in the northern Adriatic Sea, both inshore and off-shore while PE, PP and PET were more concentrated in coastal areas with the highest values offshore from the port of Rimini. Occurrence and polymeric composition of microplastics in stomach content of wild S. solea is assessed. Spatial distribution is more influenced both by polymers chemical-physical properties and peculiarities in the oceanographic conditions rather than by the feeding strategy of the species.

The environmental problem of marine litter is gaining even more scientific attention as more data are becoming available on its occurrence, abundance and geographical distribution. Due to its versatile chemical structure, plastic is extensively exploited in several industrial, commercial and medical applications. Approximately 50 percent of total production is made up of goods disposed of within one year of purchase and breaking down in the environment at an uncontrollable rate. Macroplastic litter (>5 mm, NOAA) often undergoes to mechanical, chemical and photo-degradation reaching microscopic size and thus harming marine organisms as it can be easily ingested or filter-fed. Given the continual fragmentation of plastic items, particle concentrations are likely to increase with decreasing size. This poses the attention on the emerging toxicological implications of even higher environmental concentrations of even smaller “microplastic” compounds. Too little is known about the environmental occurrence, food web bioaccumulation and final fate of such diverse classes of emerging contaminants. Therefore, major efforts are needed to understand microplastic biotransformation processes, route of exposure, toxicological implications like i.e., that related to the “trojan horse” effect by which microplastics can help transfer potentially dangerous chemicals to marine organisms. On this context, the OMICS Publishing Group supports this drive to knowledge by prompt publication and high-rise visibility of research. In contrast to the traditional model where access to content can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, its access to publications is free. Together with the availability and distribution via the Internet, the benefits of publishing with the OMICS Group are closely related to the possibility of adding links to the content, giving authors a chance to increase the number of times their paper is cited. The impact of Open Access on citation rate has been examined for many years and a thorough analysis is beginning to confirm that this model increases citation. Under the review of at least two members of the scientific community both the scientific robustness of presented results and the publication speed is guaranteed.