Microplastics: risks to the environment and health
Microplastics range in size from 5 millimetres down to a micrometre (70 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair). They are ubiquitous in the environment, found in seas and oceans, rivers, soil, air, homes and even in food. All living species, from the smallest (e.g. zooplankton) to the largest (e.g. whales), can ingest them.
Plastics in the environment, harbouring additives and bacteria
It is currently estimated that 10% of all of the plastics produced since their invention have ended up in the ocean. Plastics can float on the surface, be found at different depths and even settle on the ocean floor. Microplastics in soil should not be overlooked either, as they are thought to be present at even higher levels than in the seas and oceans. Currently, the plastics most commonly found in the environment are polyethylene (a component of now-banned single-use bags, for example), polypropylene (a component of plastic food boxes) and polystyrene (often used as protective packaging).
Plastics are made not only of polymers, but also of a mixture of various additives that give the plastics their properties: flexibility, rigidity, fire resistance, etc. These additives are potential chemical contaminants. Certain contaminants, whether chemical (heavy metals) or biological (bacteria), can attach themselves to the surface of plastics.
ANSES’s work on microplastics
Given their extensive presence in rivers, seas and oceans and their impact on aquatic fauna and flora, fishery products and drinking water, microplastics are research topics of major importance.
ANSES therefore conducts research to assess the quantity and nature of these plastic particles in certain foods. Alongside scientists from other countries, it works to harmonise protocols enabling the results obtained in the various studies to be compared. It also analyses the additives contained in plastics to estimate consumer exposure levels.
Moreover, the Agency contributes to informing public debate by providing its expertise and participating in hearings and working groups (ISO, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, AFNOR, Ministry of Ecological Transition), and producing more general summary reports (mainly for the FAO, WHO and the French Parliamentary Office for Assessing Scientific and Technological Choices (OPESCT)).
ANSES also conducts thesis projects, in particular on contamination levels in foods.
It is involved in various research projects:
- UCplastic: this project, funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), is studying the impact of microplastics on ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease;
- PANACHE, a project seeking to improve knowledge of microplastic contamination of water bodies in the Rhine-Meuse basin;
- IDEAL State-Region Plan Contract (CPER): the SANAQUA unit of the ANSES Laboratory for Food Safety is taking part in this regional project, in which several teams are working collaboratively and creating a platform with equipment devoted exclusively to the analysis of microplastics.
Lastly, ANSES is participating in the "Plastics, Environment, Health" research group (GDR), which brings together members of the French scientific community involved in research into the fate and impact of polymers in the aquatic environment. Its aim is to encourage exchanges of knowledge and the emergence of new interdisciplinary research.