Microplastics: state of the evidence on health effects and public perception
Janzik R, Sieg H, Braeuning A, Böl GF (2025). Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.
What they found
A review by scientists at Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) for doctors. Most ingested or inhaled microplastic is excreted; about 0.3% of 1–10 µm particles are absorbed in the gut. Particles have been found in organs such as placenta and plaque, but no causal link to health effects has been proven. In their survey, 84% believed microplastics can worsen existing illness.
Read this too
A 2026 letter to the editor (Saha et al., doi 10.3238/arztebl.m2025.0244) argued the review is incomplete: it leaves out plastics' chemical and environmental harms and conveys apparent safety. The authors replied (doi 10.3238/arztebl.m2025.0245).
- Sample
- Narrative review plus a survey of 1,135 German speakers
- What it can't tell you
- Narrative, not systematic, review. The 0.3% absorption figure is an estimate from limited data. Written by staff of a government risk-assessment agency.
- Funding
- The survey was supported by the BfR–EFSA framework partnership agreement (grant GP/EFSA/AMU/2020/02); authors declare no conflicts
- Topics
- Health effects, In the body
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 40853331, PMC12620896)