About the topic

There is concern about microplastic pollution and its impact on the environment and human health among scientists, policy makers and the public. Scientific evidence about the extent of this impact remains limited, however.

This scientific opinion makes recommendations on how the EU together with other global policy actors should respond to microplastic pollution based on state-of-the-art scientific knowledge.

Advice and related documents

• Scientific opinion – Environmental and health risks of microplastic pollution (April 2019) informed by SAPEA evidence review report (January 2019)
• One-page summary – Environmental and health risks of microplastic pollution (April 2019)
• News April 2019: The European Commission’s Chief Scientific Advisors call for a wider, evidence-based policy response to pre-empt the growing risks of microplastic pollution
• Initial statement(June 2018)serving as a scoping paper

Contact: EC-SAM@ec.europa.eu