Tire wear particle and leachate exposures from a pristine and road-worn tire to Hyalella azteca: Comparison of chemical content and biological effects.

Tire emissions have emerged as an environmental contaminant of concern. To fully understand their effects to biota, research is needed from different stages of a tire's lifecycle. In this study we exposed freshwater Hyalella azteca to tire wear particles (TWPs) as particle suspensions or their respective chemical leachates (the chemicals released from tire particles into water) from a pristine (P-TWP) and worn (W-TWP) tire of same make and model.

Ecotoxicology of micronized tire rubber: Past, present and future considerations.

Micronized tire rubber has recently come into focus as black particles that are found in microplastic (MP) samples worldwide. These particles have been found in all environmental compartments with the most likely source being the abrasion of car tires on road surfaces. Thus, it is well founded that tires are a source of MPs and that tire abrasion is a primary source of anthropogenic particulates.

Acute and long-term toxicity of micronized car tire wear particles to Hyalella azteca.

Ecotoxicological studies relating to tire wear particles (TWP) have focussed, up until very recently, almost entirely on the released leachate. Little is known about the toxicology effects of TWP dispersed in freshwater. In the present small-scale study we exposed Hyallela azteca to TWP dispersed in water with the aim of (i) determining the potential acute and chronic impacts of TWP exposure (ii) challenging the prevailing idea that tire leachate is the primary causative agent of tire-related toxicity.