Tag: microplastics
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Microplastics are getting into mosquitoes, contaminating new food chains
Photo: Mosquitoes leave the water and take microplastics with them. Shaun Wilkinson/Shutterstock There is no doubt that plastic pollution in oceans is a growing worldwide problem. The internet is full of images of seabirds and other marine animals entangled in plastic waste, and animals starve because their guts are blocked with plastic bags. But the…
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Microplastics in our mussels: the sea is feeding human garbage back to us
Shellfish are the natural filter systems of our seas, mechanisms of purity. So, to discover in a report released on World Oceans Day that mussels bought from UK supermarkets were infested with microplastic seems like a final irony in the terrible story of the plasticisation of the sea. According to the study by the University…
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Humans, fish and other animals are consuming microfibers in food and water
Photography by Mark Brown, courtesy of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health It’s 7:48 pm on January 8, 2018, and rain is quenching San Mateo, California’s parched suburban streets. I park my car and don my waterproof jacket and pants, yank on knee-high plastic rain boots, and trudge over to Carolynn Box, science…
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Plastic degrading in the oceans release chemicals into the water
Plastic debris accumulates in the environment and lately much attention has been drawn to the pollution in the world’s oceans. Photo: Berit Gewert Floating plastic debris in the marine environment can be degraded by reactions initiated by UV-radiation, hydrolysis, and microorganisms. Degradation of plastics releases chemical compounds to the water. The compounds and their amounts…
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Plastic debris found in tap water, beer, and sea salt
You may think you’re ingesting a safe, clean product, but you’re really putting synthetic microfibers into your body. It is one thing to hear about plastic pollution in oceans, lakes, and waterways; it’s altogether another to learn that plastic is in the food, seasonings, and beverages we’re consuming. A new open-access study, published in PLOS…
