Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom.
Department of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2020 Jul 31;15(7):e0236838. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236838. eCollection 2020.
Microplastics (MPs) are omnipresent in the environment, including the human food chain; a likely important contributor to human exposure is drinking water.
To undertake a systematic review of MP contamination of drinking water and estimate quantitative exposures.
The protocol for the systematic review employed has been published in PROSPERO (PROSPERO 2019, Registration number: CRD42019145290). MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science were searched from launch to the 3rd of June 2020, selecting studies that used procedural blank samples and a validated method for particle composition analysis. Studies were reviewed within a narrative analysis. A bespoke risk of bias (RoB) assessment tool was used.
12 studies were included in the review: six of tap water (TW) and six of bottled water (BW). Meta-analysis was not appropriate due to high statistical heterogeneity (I2>95%). Seven studies were rated low RoB and all confirmed MP contamination of drinking water. The most common polymers identified in samples were polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP), Methodological variability was observed throughout the experimental protocols. For example, the minimum size of particles extracted and analysed, which varied from 1 to 100 μm, was seen to be critical in the data reported. The maximum reported MP contamination was 628 MPs/L for TW and 4889 MPs/L for BW, detected in European samples. Based on typical consumption data, this may be extrapolated to a maximum yearly human adult uptake of 458,000 MPs for TW and 3,569,000 MPs for BW.
This is the first systematic review that appraises the quality of existing evidence on MP contamination of drinking water and estimates human exposures. The precautionary principle should be adopted to address concerns on possible human health effects from consumption of MPs. Future research should aim to standardise experimental protocols to aid comparison and elevate quality.
微塑料（MPs）广泛存在于环境中，包括人类食物链；饮用水可能是人类暴露的一个重要来源。
对饮用水中 MP 污染进行系统评价，并估算定量暴露量。
该系统评价采用的方案已在 PROSPERO 中发表（PROSPERO 2019，注册号：CRD42019145290）。从启动到 2020 年 6 月 3 日，对 MEDLINE、EMBASE 和 Web of Science 进行了检索，选择使用程序空白样本和经过验证的颗粒成分分析方法的研究。研究在叙述性分析中进行了综述。使用了专门的风险评估工具（RoB）。
本综述共纳入 12 项研究：6 项自来水中（TW）和 6 项瓶装水中（BW）。由于存在高度统计学异质性（I2>95%），不适合进行荟萃分析。7 项研究的 RoB 评分较低，均证实饮用水中存在 MP 污染。在样本中最常见的聚合物是聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）和聚丙烯（PP），在整个实验方案中观察到方法学的变异性。例如，提取和分析的颗粒最小尺寸从 1 到 100μm 不等，这在报告的数据中是至关重要的。报道的最大 MP 污染量为 TW 中的 628 MPs/L 和 BW 中的 4889 MPs/L，这是在欧洲样本中检测到的。根据典型的消费数据，这可能会推算出成年人每年通过 TW 摄入的 MP 最大量为 458000 个，通过 BW 摄入的 MP 最大量为 3569000 个。
这是第一项评估饮用水中 MP 污染的现有证据质量并估算人体暴露量的系统评价。应采用预防原则来解决人们对从 MP 消费中可能产生的健康影响的担忧。未来的研究应旨在标准化实验方案，以促进比较和提高质量。
