There is clear evidence that exposure to micro and nanoplastics can trigger oxidative stress, fibrogenesis and inflammation in animals, features that resemble those of advanced liver disease in humans, researchers said on Thursday. 

With the liver acting as the body’s first major firewall, processing and detoxifying everything humans consume, there is a clear potential for these particles to enable the transporting of microbial pathogens, antimicrobial resistance determinants, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and carcinogenic additives into the human system, they emphasised in the Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology journal.