‘Plasticosis’: the first disease named after plastic
Seabirds on Lord Howe Island develop scar tissue in their stomachs in proportion to how much plastic they have eaten.
Scientists
-
-
914 marine species are known to have swallowed or been tangled in plastic
The definitive species count for plastic ingestion and entanglement has more than tripled since 1997.
-
More than 16,000 chemicals are used in plastics, and a quarter are of concern
The PlastChem report found far more chemicals in plastics than regulators assumed, with over 4,200 hazardous and fewer than 6% regulated internationally.
-
19–23 million tonnes of plastic entered rivers, lakes and seas in 2016
Even the most ambitious commitments would leave tens of millions of tonnes of plastic entering aquatic ecosystems every year.
-
More than 1,000 rivers carry 80% of plastic into the sea, not just ten
Ocean plastic comes from thousands of small urban rivers, overturning the earlier claim that ten big rivers carry 90% of it.
-
171 trillion plastic particles now float on the world’s oceans
Surface plastic has risen sharply since 2005 and is mostly microplastic, according to 40 years of ocean sampling.
-
Less plastic enters the ocean than thought, but it lasts for decades
A Nature Geoscience model finds 3.2 million tonnes of floating plastic in the ocean, fed by only about 0.5 million tonnes a year, mostly…
-
Microplastics found in human blood for the first time
A Dutch pilot study detected plastic particles in the blood of 17 of 22 healthy adults, at an average of 1.6 micrograms per millilitre.
-
First evidence of microplastics in the human placenta
Italian researchers found plastic fragments in four of six placentas, on both the mother’s and the baby’s side.
-
Microplastics measurable in every one of 62 placentas tested
Using a mass-spectrometry method, US researchers found plastic in 100% of placentas, at 6.5 to 790 micrograms per gram of tissue.