More Than a Potential Hazard—Approaching Risks from a Social-Ecological Perspective

Völker, Carolin; Kramm, Johanna; Kerber, Heide; Schramm, Engelbert; Winker, Martina; Zimmermann, Martin

doi:10.3390/su9071039

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Völker et al . 26 found that “92.8% of media articles imply that risk of microplastics exist and harmful consequences are highly probable” (p.7) 40 . However, in this specific case the evidence provided to date suggests that the chemicals related to plastics in microplastics exert a negligible effect on human health despite commonly being stated in the press, and also in the scientific literature 5 , 15 , 26 , 41 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainty about the risks associated with microplastics among lay and topic-experienced respondents

Thiele

Hudson

2021

Sci Rep

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Microplastics are contaminants of emerging concern but there is currently a lack of evidence on actual risks relating to them, despite claims in media and scientific articles. Research on people’s perceptions on microplastics is in its infancy. Here we present part of a larger survey about people’s perceptions of issues with microplastics. Our analysis of 1681 responses across the globe to an online questionnaire demonstrates a certain level of uncertainty, not only in lay people but also respondents who study/work on the topic of plastics and microplastics as a pollutant. This uncertainty ranges from level of concern about microplastics as an environmental issue to existing evidence for effects. Further, there is some discrepancy between risk perception and state of the research. Some of this may be driven by scientific work with some serious limitations in reporting and methods. This highlights the need for fact-checking of circulating information about microplastics, but also for addressing the discordance between ecotoxicological risk and how risk is framed within the scientific community.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainty about the risks associated with microplastics among lay and topic-experienced respondents

Thiele

Hudson

2021

Sci Rep

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“…The sources to microplastics in aquatic ecosystems are mainly land-based and are usually divided into primary sources (emissions of micro-sized polymeric particles) and secondary sources (larger sized polymer items that are broken down in the environment to microplastics) [10]. The abrasion of synthetic textiles leads to shedding due to mechanical stress of the textile fibres and takes place both during production [12] and use e.g., washing and drying procedures [14].…”

Section: Textiles As a Source To Microplasticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Environmental monitoring shows that microplastics are present in aquatic environments at a growing rate [8,9]. At the same time, there is an uncertainty to how large the risks are that microplastics pose, and there is currently no studies available that can provide evidence that the micro-sized plastic particles pose any hazard in itself [10,11]. However, for emissions to air and consequent inhalation in the human lung, the potential hazard related to size and shape especially related to emissions in working environment is discussed [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics Shedding from Textiles—Developing Analytical Method for Measurement of Shed Material Representing Release during Domestic Washing

et al. 2018

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The topic of shedding of micro-sized polymeric particles, so called microplastics, from textiles has been covered by an increasing number of studies over the past years. However, the methods with which the shedding of microplastics from textiles has been measured so far has shown a large variation. Consequently, the results regarding the amount of shed particles also vary, from 120 to 728,289 particles from similar garments in recent studies. This article presents research enabling for identification of whether the shedding of microplastics from different types of fabric was dependent on construction parameters. As none of the methods in the existing literature could be used for evaluating shedding of microplastics from textiles, a method was developed for this purpose. The resulting final method is described in this paper as well as the work with minimizing the error sources and consequently the standard deviation of the results through selection of material samples, equipment and procedure for sample preparation, washing, filtering the washing water and analyzing the shed microplastics. Comparing the environmental load of different garments, or identifying improvement possibilities in garment construction are two examples of how the method can be utilized.

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“…For Kermisch (2012), the concepts of risk and responsibility are increasingly intertwined, a tendency that has grown by increasing public awareness, and suggested that a form of virtue-responsibility should be integrated in the concept of risk. Ondeed, risk has a polysemic nature, whose objective and subjective dimensions must be understood as complementary, considering the technical and social components, being socially, culturally and mentally constructed (Covello & Mumpower, 1985;Hansson, 2010;Völker et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk perception related to food

Rembischevski

Caldas

2020

Food Sci. Technol

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There is no human activity that is risk free, including those most trivial and essential for survival, such as eating. Various factors impact the risk perception of a population, such as whether the risk is voluntary, known, brings some benefits or whether the information about the risk is provided by sources seen as trusted. Furthermore, regional and cultural aspects, gender and age can also have an impact on risk perception, and the level of scientific knowledge of the individual about the risks has in many cases little impact on the risk perception. On most countries, the perception of consumers to certain risks present in food, including genetically modified organisms (GMD), pesticides and food additives is high, probably due to the lack of confidence on the industry and governmental authorities that are responsible to control the risks. Food that are considered more natural, such as organic food and "GMD free", are normally perceived as less risky/more healthy. Knowing the perception of the population regarding the risks present in food is essential to design clear and transparent risk communication strategies, which should consider, in addition to scientific information, the subjective aspects that affects the risk perception.

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More Than a Potential Hazard—Approaching Risks from a Social-Ecological Perspective

Cited by 14 publications

References 52 publications

Uncertainty about the risks associated with microplastics among lay and topic-experienced respondents

Uncertainty about the risks associated with microplastics among lay and topic-experienced respondents

Microplastics Shedding from Textiles—Developing Analytical Method for Measurement of Shed Material Representing Release during Domestic Washing

Risk perception related to food

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