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

塑料是一个全球性的污染问题。它们的全球年产量估计在2.45亿吨左右。大量生产和使用塑料产品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，包括微塑料和有害的化学塑料添加剂。微塑料和许多化学塑料添加剂往往不符合持久性、生物蓄积性和毒性的标准风险评估标准，是当前环境和人类健康风险评估的一个挑战。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，许多与塑料有关的污染物会对环境和人类健康产生影响。为了评估与塑料有关的污染物的潜在风险，需要调整现有的化学品风险评估方法，以考虑微塑料和新兴塑料添加剂的具体环境运输和命运。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，从而促进这一过程。在探索基金研究的五年内，我将从产品生命周期的角度确定与人类接触风险较高的塑料相关污染物，重点关注多伦多淡水和饮用水资源的潜在污染。这项研究计划的短期目标是-确定城市水中与人类接触高度相关的优先塑料相关污染物，-分析微塑料作为共同污染物或持久性和可移动有机污染物（pmoc）的来源，-确定污染物的特征和塑料相关污染物进入水和食物的潜在排放在塑料产品的“生命周期”中如何变化。这些短期目标将通过结合最先进的化学分析、影响人类和环境暴露潜力的因素的多元统计分析以及对PMOC向地下水迁移的实验调查来实现。概述的研究将在PMOC物理化学特性和塑料产品特性方面创造新的知识，这些特性会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环境中化学运输机制理解的领导者和创新者的技能。

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.