Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

3.27 - Unpacking Plastic Pollution: Plastic Additives and Nanoplastics in Environmental Fate, Human Exposure, Toxicity and Regulation

Description

Keywords: Environmental Monitoring, Human Health, Plastics (Micro- or Nano-)

Plastic pollution has moved far beyond visible debris, encompassing both chemical additives and nanoplastics that are now ubiquitous in air, water, soils, food webs, and humans. These emerging contaminants raise complex scientific and regulatory challenges, requiring integrated approaches that span environmental science, toxicology, analytical chemistry, and policy. Plastic additives, such as bisphenols, phthalates, flame retardants, and UV stabilizers, are not chemically bound to polymers and can leach during production, use, disposal, or recycling. Their persistence across environmental compartments contributes to diffuse and chronic human exposure through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption. In parallel, nanoplastics originating from the degradation of conventional and bio-based plastics represent an additional layer of concern due to their nano-scale size, surface reactivity, and capacity for cellular uptake. Both additives and nanoplastics pose challenges to current monitoring and risk assessment frameworks. Detecting them at trace levels in complex environmental and biological matrices remains analytically demanding, and standardized methods for sampling, extraction, and quantification are still lacking. Despite growing evidence of their presence and interactions with biological systems, the long-term environmental and health implications of both additives and nanoplastics remain insufficiently characterized, particularly under realistic exposure scenarios and mixture conditions. This session aims to advance a comprehensive understanding of how additives and nanoplastics contribute to plastic pollution by addressing: - Occurrence, transformation, environmental fate, and ecological impacts. - Human exposure pathways and risks, biomonitoring studies, and mixture toxicity effects. - Analytical innovations enabling trace-level detection and characterization. - Cutting-edge technologies for the removal from water systems. - Regulatory gaps and the need for novel frameworks. - One Health and life cycle perspectives that connect environmental contamination to human and ecosystem health. By convening experts from environmental science, chemistry, toxicology, epidemiology, engineering, and policy, this session will foster interdisciplinary discussion and highlight research needs for evidence-based regulation and sustainable solutions. Contributions from early-career researchers are especially encouraged.

Chairs

Maria Vittoria Barbieri Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research - Spanish National Research Council (IDAEA-CSIC) Spain
Miguel Oliveira  University of Aveiro Portugal
Naija Azza Qatar University Qatar
Lara Cioni Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research - Spanish National Research Council (IDAEA-CSIC) Spain