Microplastics (MPs) are widely present in agricultural soils as a emerging pollutant. Meanwhile, the problem of heavy metal pollution cannot be ignored. Is the co-contamination between these two types of pollutants a cause for concern?
Heavy metals are indeed of major concern as a possible food contamination. A chemical hazard analyses and legislation of LMR and LMRE is available. But a lot of work should be done to assess the risk and the consequences of systematic intake of microplastics via our food, taking into account de complexity of those type of materials, multicompounds.
Absolutely sure. Micro-/nanoplastics pollution is indeed a serious environmental issue in agricultural soils. The widespread use of plastic land films and polymer-coated fertilizers are prevalent in real agriculture word, which lead to the occurrence of MPs/NPs. In heavy metal contaminated soils, the appication of agricultural plastic products especially for polymer-coated fertilziers would result in the co-contamination of MPs and heavy metals. In addition, during the manufacture of plastic products, some metal ions such as Zinc (Zn) are added to improve their thermal stability. The release of this heavy metal from plastic products will also lead to this co-contamination. Here are some our previously published works on the MPs and Heavy metal contamination, which are expected to be helpful to you.
1. Article Do polystyrene nanoplastics affect the toxicity of cadmium t...
2. Article Effects of microplastics derived from polymer-coated fertili...
3. Article Effects of Polyester Microfibers (PMFs) and Cadmium on Lettu...
4. Article Effects of Polyethylene and Polylactic Acid Microplastics on...
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