Environmental Pollutants and Bioavailability

The omnipresence of microplastics in the environment has attracted a global attention. The scale of the problem cause by microplastic contamination of the environment led to “plastic” inclusion in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG). However, there are no targets set so far on microplastics. A significant volume of literature has emerged, emphasizing the potential impacts of microplastics on marine organisms and ecosystem functioning. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) lists microplastics as one of the top ten environmental problems in the world. Several studies have shown that microplastic pollution in marine and terrestrial environments, including soil and groundwater, is harmful to human and soil health. Various agencies have invested significant effort in developing, harmonizing and standardizing microplastic monitoring protocols. Given the increasing environmental concern caused by microplastics, more research is needed to better understand the environmental footprint of microplastics in the marine and terrestrial environment, including leaching of chemicals from microplastics and their efficacy to act as vectors of the contaminants, degradation of polymer as they become secondary microplastics, the toxicity of the microplastics and their potential to translocate from food into blood/organs. This Article Collection will appreciate original research papers, review articles, short communication and perspective papers. Topics of interest to the Article Collection include, but are not limited to:

• Characterization, and quantification of microplastics in different environmental matrices
• Assessment of microplastic fate, risk, and health effects
• Microplastic transportation and/or pathways studies
• Innovative technological advancements and analytical methods
• Guidelines to mitigate microplastics in the environment
• Quantification of toxic chemicals associated with microplastics including additives, persistent organic and inorganic chemicals and emerging environmental contaminants

Guest Advisor biography:

Dr. Jin-Yong Lee is a full professor at the Department of Geology at Kangwon National University. To date, he has published more than 300 research papers in international and Korean journals, with a keen interest in soil and groundwater quality and contamination from emerging pollutants such as microplastics.

Dr. Veerasingam Subramanian is a researcher in Environmental Science Center, Qatar University with more than 15 years of research experience and specialized in emerging environmental contaminants, persistent organic and inorganic pollutants, applied spectroscopy, environmental magnetism, and nearshore dynamics and coastal processes.

Dr. Saif Uddin has been conducting research on environmental pollution for the past three decades. His interest in microplastics led to the development of harmonized and standardized protocols for the determination of microplastics in various environmental matrices. He has studied microplastics in the marine environment, and food chain transfer of microplastics.

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