The Known and Unknown: Investigating the Carcinogenic Potential of Plastic Additives.

Microplastics are routinely ingested and inhaled by humans and other organisms. Despite the frequency of plastic exposure, little is known about its health consequences. Of particular concern are plastic additives─chemical compounds that are intentionally or unintentionally added to plastics to improve functionality or as residual components of plastic production. Additives are often loosely bound to the plastic polymer and may be released during plastic exposures. To better understand the health effects of plastic additives, we performed a comprehensive literature search to compile a list of 2,712 known plastic additives. Then, we performed an integrated toxicogenomic analysis of these additives, utilizing cancer classifications and carcinogenic expression pathways as a primary focus. Screening these substances across two chemical databases revealed two key observations: (1) over 150 plastic additives have known carcinogenicity and (2) the majority (∼90%) of plastic additives lack data on carcinogenic end points. Analyses of additive usage patterns pinpointed specific polymers, functions, and products in which carcinogenic additives reside. Based on published chemical-gene interactions, both carcinogenic additives and additives with unknown carcinogenicity impacted similar biological pathways. The predominant pathways involved DNA damage, apoptosis, the immune response, viral diseases, and cancer. This study underscores the urgent need for a systematic and comprehensive carcinogenicity assessment of plastic additives and regulatory responses to mitigate the potential health risks of plastic exposure.

Cleaning Up without Messing Up: Maximizing the Benefits of Plastic Clean-Up Technologies through New Regulatory Approaches.

As the global plastics crisis grows, numerous technologies have been invented and implemented to recover plastic pollution from the environment. Although laudable, unregulated clean-up technologies may be inefficient and have unintended negative consequences on ecosystems, for example, through bycatch or removal of organic matter important for ecosystem functions. Despite these concerns, plastic clean-up technologies can play an important role in reducing litter in the environment. As the United Nations Environment Assembly is moving toward an international, legally binding treaty to address plastic pollution by 2024, the implementation of plastic clean-up technologies should be regulated to secure their net benefits and avoid unintended damages. Regulation can require environmental impact assessments and life cycle analysis to be conducted predeployment on a case-by-case basis to determine their effectiveness and impact and secure environmentally sound management. During operations catch-efficiency and bycatch of nonlitter items, as well as waste management of recovered litter, should be documented. Data collection for monitoring, research, and outreach to mitigate plastic pollution is recommended as added value of implementation of clean-up technologies.

Voluntary commitments made by the world's largest companies focus on recycling and packaging over other actions to address the plastics crisis.

Plastic pollution has caused significant environmental and health challenges. Corporations that contribute to the make, use, and distribution of plastics can play a vital role in addressing global plastic pollution and many are committing to voluntary pledges. However, the extent to which corporation voluntary commitments are helping solve the problem remains underexplored. Here we develop a novel typology to characterize voluntary commitments to reduce plastic pollution made between 2015-2020 by 974 companies including the top 300 of the Fortune Global. We find that 72% of these companies have made commitments to reduce plastic pollution. About 67% of companies participating in voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) and 17% of non-VEPs participants made measurable and timebound commitments. However, rather than tackle virgin plastics, most companies target general plastics and frequently emphasize end-of-life controls with a primary focus on recycling. Growing commitments on plastic pollution are made by large and important companies, but significantly more efforts beyond plastic recycling are required to effectively address plastic pollution challenges.

Plastic pollution solutions: emerging technologies to prevent and collectmarineplastic pollution.

As plastic waste accumulates in the ocean at alarming rates, the need for efficient and sustainable remediation solutions is urgent. One solution is the development and mobilization of technologies that either 1)prevent plastics from entering waterways or2) collect marine and riverineplastic pollution. To date, however, few reports have focused on these technologies, and information on various technological developments is scattered. This leaves policymakers, innovators, and researchers without a central, comprehensive, and reliable source of information on the status of available technology to target this global problem. The goal of this study was to address this gap by creating a comprehensive inventory of technologies currently used or in development to prevent the leakage of plastic pollution or collect existing plastic pollution. Our Plastic Pollution Prevention and Collection Technology Inventory (https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/plastics-technology-inventory) can be used as a roadmap for researchers and governments to 1) facilitate comparisons between the scope of solutions and the breadth and severity of the plastic pollution problem and 2) assist in identifying strengths and weaknesses of current technological approaches. We created this inventory from a systematic search and review of resources that identified technologies. Technologies were organized by the type of technology and target plastics (i.e., macroplastics, microplastic, or both). We identified 52 technologies that fall into the two categories of prevention or collection of plastic pollution. Of these, 59% focus specifically on collecting macroplastic waste already in waterways. While these efforts to collect plastic pollution are laudable, their current capacity and widespread implementation are limited in comparison to their potential and the vast extent of the plastic pollution problem. Similarly, few technologies attempt to prevent plastic pollution leakage, and those that do are limited in scope. A comprehensive approach is needed that combines technology, policymaking, and advocacy to prevent further plastic pollution and the subsequent damage to aquatic ecosystems and human health.

Plastic pellets trigger feeding responses in sea anemones.

Multiple mechanisms for plastic consumption by marine animals have been proposed based on the feeding cues and behavior of the animal studied. We investigated plastic consumption in sea anemones. We found that anemones readily consumed pristine National Institute of Standards and Technology low-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene II and III pre-production pellets. Anemone weight, crown area, and number of tentacles were measured before and after 12 days of daily pellet consumption. Crown area significantly increased for control anemones only. Fresh anemones were then sequentially fed consumed and egested pellets from two of the earlier daily trials to measure feeding retention time, which decreased over three to four feedings. The concentrations of elements in anemones (zinc, iron, arsenic, manganese, chromium, copper, vanadium, selenium, nickel, cadmium, and cobalt) were similar to control anemones that were not exposed to pellets. Lead concentrations were significantly higher in anemones fed HDPE III pellets as compared to control. Plastic consumption by marine animals might be reduced by reducing the amount of plastic that enters the ocean and understanding the chemical triggers underlying plastic consumption.

Oxidase Activity of the Barnacle Adhesive Interface Involves Peroxide-Dependent Catechol Oxidase and Lysyl Oxidase Enzymes.

Oxidases are found to play a growing role in providing functional chemistry to marine adhesives for the permanent attachment of macrofouling organisms. Here, we demonstrate active peroxidase and lysyl oxidase enzymes in the adhesive layer of adult Amphibalanus amphitrite barnacles through live staining, proteomic analysis, and competitive enzyme assays on isolated cement. A novel full-length peroxinectin (AaPxt-1) secreted by barnacles is largely responsible for oxidizing phenolic chemistries; AaPxt-1 is driven by native hydrogen peroxide in the adhesive and oxidizes phenolic substrates typically preferred by phenoloxidases (POX) such as laccase and tyrosinase. A major cement protein component AaCP43 is found to contain ketone/aldehyde modifications via 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) derivatization, also called Brady's reagent, of cement proteins and immunoblotting with an anti-DNPH antibody. Our work outlines the landscape of molt-related oxidative pathways exposed to barnacle cement proteins, where ketone- and aldehyde-forming oxidases use peroxide intermediates to modify major cement components such as AaCP43.