Descrizione del progetto
Rivelare il vero costo dell’inquinamento da microplastiche e nanoplastiche
L’inquinamento da microplastiche e nanoplastiche sta diventando una preoccupazione costante tra le questioni ambientali che devono essere affrontate. Tuttavia, poco si sa su come queste plastiche influenzano la salute, soprattutto durante la prima infanzia e lo sviluppo. Il progetto AURORA, finanziato dall’UE, si propone di sviluppare un quadro per la valutazione del rischio di tale inquinamento per valutare il suo impatto durante la gravidanza e la prima infanzia. L’obiettivo sarà raggiunto attraverso test approfonditi e dati epidemiologici per rivelare come l’esposizione all’inquinamento da microplastiche e nanoplastiche può influenzare lo sviluppo e la salute dei bambini. L’obiettivo finale è quello di fornire un modo completo per valutare il vero impatto dell’inquinamento da microplastiche e nanoplastiche, orientando la politica europea e migliorando la qualità della vita.
Obiettivo
The scale of micro- and nanoplastic (MNP) pollution is becoming increasingly clear yet little is known about how this pollution impacts health. The AURORA project will deliver an actionable European roadmap for early-life health risk assessment of MNPs to support regulation of MNPs and the products and processes that generate secondary MNPs, and development of safer alternatives. We will focus on MNP exposures and toxicological and health effects during pregnancy, in utero, and in early life. These periods are critical for development and health later in life and are of heightened vulnerability to environmental insults. We have recently shown that MNPs are likely to cross the placental barrier in vitro and in vivo, underlying the urgent need to understand the impact of MNPs on reproductive and early-life health. AURORA will do so by significantly enhancing exposure assessment capabilities for measuring MNPs and MNP-associated chemicals (e.g. additives) in tissues relevant for early-life development (placenta, cord blood, amniotic fluid, meconium, fetal tissue). It will take a unique approach by combining in-depth characterization methods (microscopy and spectroscopy) and scalable methods (mass-spectrometry) to develop methods for both detailed and large-scale toxicological, exposure assessment, and epidemiological studies. This will be combined with a novel tiered-testing approach and epidemiological investigations to provide the first extensive evaluation of maternal and fetal MNP exposures and health perturbations, including placental function, immune-inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, accelerated aging, endocrine disruption, and child development. In the course of developing and applying the tools and methodological workflows of the AURORA research program, we will create a risk assessment framework specific to MNPs and identify the remaining knowledge gaps and priorities needed for comprehensively evaluating the impact of MNPs on early-life health. AURORA is part of the European MNP cluster on human health.
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Vedi altri progetti per questo bandoBando secondario
H2020-SC1-2020-Single-Stage-RTD
Meccanismo di finanziamento
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinatore
3584 CX Utrecht
Paesi Bassi