BACKGROUND: Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) are emerging pollutants of concern with ubiquitous presence in global ecosystems. MNPs pose potential implications for human health; however, the health impacts of MNP exposures are not yet understood. Recent evidence suggests that MNPs can cross the placental barrier, underlying the urgent need to understand their impact on reproductive health and development. OBJECTIVE: The Actionable eUropean ROadmap for early-life health Risk Assessment of micro- and nanoplastics (AURORA) project will investigate MNP exposures and their biological and health effects during pregnancy and early life, which are critical periods due to heightened vulnerability to environmental stressors. The AURORA project will enhance exposure assessment capabilities for measuring MNPs, MNP-associated chemicals, and plastic additives in human tissues, including placenta and blood. METHODS: In this interdisciplinary project, we will advance methods for in-depth characterization and scalable chemical analytical strategies, enabling high-resolution and large-scale toxicological, exposure assessment, and epidemiological studies. The AURORA project performs observational studies to investigate determinants and health impacts of MNPs by including 800 mother-child pairs from 2 existing birth cohorts and 110 women of reproductive age from a newly established cohort. This will be complemented by toxicological studies using a tiered-testing approach and epidemiological investigations to evaluate associations between maternal and prenatal MNP exposures and health perturbations, such as placental function, immune-inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, accelerated aging, endocrine disruption, and child growth and development. The ultimate goal of the AURORA project is to create an MNP risk assessment framework and identify the remaining knowledge gaps and priorities needed to comprehensively assess the impact of MNPs on early-life health. RESULTS: In the first 3 years of this 5-year project (2021-2026), progress was made toward all objectives. This includes completion of recruitment and data collection for new and existing cohorts, development of analytical methodological protocols, and initiation of the toxicological tiered assessments. As of September 2024, data analysis is ongoing and results are expected to be published starting in 2025. CONCLUSIONS: As plastic pollution increases globally, it is imperative to understand the impact of MNPs on human health, particularly during vulnerable developmental stages such as early life. The contributions of the AURORA project will inform future risk assessment. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/63176.

Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment section Environmental Health and Toxicology Faculty of Science Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands

Centre for Biomedicine and Global Health School of Applied Sciences Edinburgh Napier University Edinburgh United Kingdom

Centre for Environmental Sciences Hasselt University Diepenbeek Belgium

Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York NY United States

Department of Global Public Health and Bioethics Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care University Medical Center Utrecht Utrecht Netherlands

Department of Public Health and Primary Care Leuven University Leuven Belgium

Division of Environmental Epidemiology Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht Netherlands

Division of Toxicology Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht Netherlands

Food Packaging Forum Foundation Zurich Switzerland

Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Atlanta GA United States

Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis Group Institute for Sustainable and Circular Chemistry and Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science Utrecht University Utrecht Netherlands

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg Oldenburg Germany

Institute of Occupational Medicine Edinburgh United Kingdom

ISGlobal Barcelona Spain

RECETOX Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

School of Pharmacy University of Eastern Finland Kuopio Finland

Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health Madrid Spain

Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona Spain

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