The DOI matches its Crossref record; 145 of the 145 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Twenty years of microplastic pollution research—what have we learned?
Open accessAbstract
Twenty years after the first publication that used the term microplastic, we review current understanding, refine definitions, and consider future prospects. Microplastics arise from multiple sources, including tires, textiles, cosmetics, paint, and the fragmentation of larger items. They are widely distributed throughout the natural environment, with evidence of harm at multiple levels of biological organization. They are pervasive in food and drink and have been detected throughout the human body, with emerging evidence of negative effects. Environmental contamination could double by 2040, and wide-scale harm has been predicted. Public concern is increasing, and diverse measures to address microplastic pollution are being considered in international negotiations. Clear evidence on the efficacy of potential solutions is now needed to address the issue and to minimize the risks of unintended consequences.
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“However, degradation of materials and subsequent release of components, including additives and micro- and nanoparticles, challenges this assumption [144].”
Citations
Cites
1 retracted
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Self-citationDiscovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood
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“Py-GC-MS quantifies by mass and can include particles that wouldbetoo small for spectroscopic approaches, forexample,particlesinthehumanbody(Fig.4), includingintheblood( 99 ), and nanoplastics ( 137 ).”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
The distribution of subsurface microplastics in the ocean
Zhao, S., Kvale, K., Zhu, L., Zettler, E., Egger, M., Mincer, T. J., Amaral‐Zettler, L., Lebreton, L., Niemann, H., Nakajima, R., et al. (2025) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08818-1 · Cited by 357
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The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics
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Metadata
- Authors
- Thompson, R. C., Courtene-Jones, W., Boucher, J., Pahl, S., Raubenheimer, K., & Koelmans, A. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Plymouth (GB)
- School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
- EA–Earth Action, CH 1004 Lausanne, Switzerland.
- University of Vienna (AT)
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Thompson, Richard C.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2024-10-25
- Volume
- 386
- Issue
- 6720
- Pages
- eadl2746-eadl2746
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W4402625926
- Cited by
- 1,521
- References
- 145
- Citations by year
- 2026: 829 · 2025: 647 · 2024: 45
- FWCI
- 39.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.wur.nl
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (submittedVersion)
- PEARL (University of Plymouth) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/V00185X/1, NE/V007556/1, NE/S003967/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Keywords
- microplastics, microplastic pollution, microplastic sources, microplastic fragmentation, microplastic toxicity, human exposure to microplastics, plastic pollution mitigation
- MeSH terms
- Microplastics, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Pollution, Humans
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