Sources and fate of plastic-associated contaminants in the environment- novel analysis strategies to evaluate human and environmental exposure

环境中塑料相关污染物的来源和归宿——评估人类和环境暴露的新颖分析策略

• 批准号: RGPIN-2021-03770
• 负责人: Suehring, Roxana
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: Ryerson University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=748547
• 关键词: Sources; fate; plastic; associated; contaminants

Plastics are a global pollution problem. Their global annual production is estimated at around 245 million tons. A major side effect of this immense production and use of plastic products is an increasing pollution of the environment with plastic-associated contaminants, including microplastics and hazardous chemical plastic additives. Microplastic and many chemical plastic additives are a challenge for current environmental and human health risk assessment, because they often do not meet the standard risk assessment criteria of persistence, bioaccumulation potential and toxicity. This makes it difficult to risk assess and regulate them, even though there are strong scientific indications for environmental and human health impacts for many of these plastic-associated contaminants. To evaluate potential risks from plastic-associated contaminants, established methods for chemical risk assessment need to be adapted to account for the specific environmental transport and fate of microplastics and emerging plastic additives. The aim of my long-term research program is to facilitate this process by developing methods to understand the underlying mechanisms for plastic-associated contaminant occurrence and transport in the environment. Within the five years of the Discovery Grant research, I will identify plastic-associated contaminants with a high risk for human exposure from a product life-cycle point of view, with a focus on potential contamination of freshwater and drinking water resources in Toronto. The short-term objectives for this research proposal are to - Identify priority plastic-associated contaminants in urban water which are highly linked to human exposure, - Analyse microplastics as co-contaminants or sources for persistent and mobile organic contaminants (PMOCs), - Determine how contaminant profiles and potential emissions of plastic-associated contaminants into water and food change over the "life-cycle" of a plastic product. These short-term objectives will be achieved through a combination of state-of-the-art chemical analysis, multivariate statistical analysis of factors that impact the potential for human and environmental exposure, and experimental investigation of PMOC mobility into groundwater. The outlined research will create new knowledge on the PMOC physical-chemical properties and plastic product properties that impact plastic-associated contaminant patterns and concentrations in consumer products and drinking water in Canada. The generated knowledge will advance the field of plastic contaminant research and facilitate impactful chemical management and policy development. The HQP trained through the program will have the skills to be leaders and innovators for state-of-the-art instrumental chemical analyses and mechanistic understanding of chemical transport in the environment.

塑料是全球性的污染问题。其全球年产量估计约为2.45亿吨。塑料产品的大量生产和使用的一个主要副作用是塑料相关污染物对环境的污染日益严重，包括微塑料和危险的化学塑料添加剂。微塑料和许多化学塑料添加剂是当前环境和人类健康风险评估的一个挑战，因为它们往往不符合持久性、生物累积潜力和毒性的标准风险评估标准。这使得很难对它们进行风险评估和监管，尽管有强有力的科学迹象表明这些塑料相关污染物对环境和人类健康的影响。 为了评估塑料相关污染物的潜在风险，需要调整现有的化学风险评估方法，以考虑微塑料和新出现的塑料添加剂的特定环境迁移和归宿。我的长期研究计划的目的是通过开发方法来了解塑料相关污染物在环境中发生和运输的潜在机制，以促进这一过程。在发现补助金研究的五年内，我将从产品生命周期的角度确定人类接触的高风险塑料相关污染物，重点关注多伦多淡水和饮用水资源的潜在污染。 本研究提案的短期目标是-识别城市水中与人类接触高度相关的优先塑料相关污染物，-分析微塑料作为持久性和移动的有机污染物的共污染物或来源污染物（PMOC），- 确定污染物概况以及与塑料相关的污染物在水和食品中的潜在排放如何在塑料产品的“生命周期”中变化。这些短期目标将通过结合最先进的化学分析、对影响人类和环境暴露潜力的因素进行多变量统计分析以及对PMOC在地下水中的流动性进行实验研究来实现。概述的研究将创造关于PMOC物理化学性质和塑料产品性质的新知识，这些性质影响加拿大消费品和饮用水中与塑料相关的污染物模式和浓度。所产生的知识将推动塑料污染物研究领域的发展，并促进有效的化学品管理和政策制定。通过该计划培训的HQP将具备成为最先进的仪器化学分析和化学品在环境中传输的机械理解的领导者和创新者的技能。