Microplastics, an emerging public health problem

Abstract

Introduction: commercial plastic products has transformed the modern era in such a way that current life without plastic would not be possible, so at the same time with this development, plastics contamination is present, becoming one of the most urgent environmental problems nowadays. Objective: to gather available information published on the last five years concerning the microplastics as a source of environmental contamination in Ecuador and in order to reinforce the local interest on plastic pollution. Development: an unstructured review of the literature was performed. Databases used, PubMed and Google Scholar. The inclusion criteria used were as follow: articles in English and Spanish published on the last 5 years, no other language; study selections have been done by convenience. It was chronologically organized and analyzed the evidence published in PubMed and Google Scholar on the last five years concerning the microplastics behavior in Ecuador. Final considerations: the information collected chronologically shows the advancing pollution caused by microplastics both globally and in Ecuador, in addition, the presence of microplastics in oceans, fresh water, terrestrial ecosystems, air, foods and even in the human body is evident. Therefore, contamination caused by microplastics is a topic of a great importance today, which requires a speedy control action.

Keywords

• tóxicos
• contaminación
• medio ambiente
• salud pública
• residuos
• microplásticos