About this Research Topic

Background

The unabated release of contaminants into natural ecosystems is having serious implications on human health due to the connections between the health of human populations, ecological health, and the services that these ecosystems provide to humans.

Anthropogenic (industrial, domestic and agricultural) activities are pathways of environmental contamination. This is exacerbated by the integral role of climate change in contaminant dynamics (across the biosphere i.e. air, land and water) resulting in global environmental and human health concerns in the 21st century. Aspects of contaminant dynamics and potential risks to human health have been discerned through investigations on occurrence, distribution, bioaccumulation, biomagnification and transport through successive links in the food chain.

The dynamics of these contaminants through biota and humans have allowed inferences of risk severity through measurable physiological changes and toxicological endpoints including, toxicokinetics ( absorption, distribution , metabolism, excretion) and deleterious effects seen in human populations , especially in the vulnerable subpopulations such as children, women and the elderly people. Adverse health effects/ outcomes may include but are not limited to reproductive and developmental, immunological, cardiovascular metabolism, physiology and neurobehavioral disorders. Other human-centric effects arising from contaminants may include, cancers, diabetes, thyroid dysfunctions, birth defects, infertility, early onset of puberty in girls, early menopause in women, mortality and morbidity in exposed individuals.

Despite the diversity and ubiquity of contaminants in impacted environments, interests have remain focused on classical categories i.e., metals/metalloids compounds, persistent organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters (PAEs), bisphenol-A (BPA), perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated compounds (PBCs), phenolic compounds (PCs), organotins (OTs), organochlorine (OCs), organophosphate pesticides (OPs), n-alkanes, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), radioactive elements, electronic waste, and emerging categories i.e. microplastics, and nanoparticles.

In the light of the above concerns we hereby invite scientific and multidisciplinary contributions in the form of original research articles, opinion papers and systematic reviews on these research topics. The focus will include but not limited to:

• the source, occurrence, nature and magnitude of exposure frequency, fate, transport, distribution, and physiological effects of classical and emerging contaminants in the natural environment
• Risk estimations and predictions based on fate, transport and distribution of different contaminant categories
• Climate change-related studies that provide information of contaminant mobility, distribution and volatility with changing global temperatures, rainfall patterns
• Macro-pollutants i.e., visible/non-volatile pollutant e.g. litter, macro-plastics: occurrence, distribution and effects on animal and human populations
• Biomarker-based studies in species (model organisms) that provide insights into risk factors in human populations.

Keywords: Human Health, Human Endocrine Disruption, Pollutants, Chemical Contaminants, Biomarkers, Micro-Plastics, field research

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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