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Plastics also release toxic chemicals into the environment and cause physical, chemical harm and biological damage to organisms. Ingestion of plastic does not only lead to death in animals through intestinal blockage but it can also travel up the food chain which affects humans. [101]
The microplastics are such a concern because it is difficult to clean them up due to their size, so humans can try to avoid using these harmful plastics by purchasing products that use environmentally safe exfoliates. Because plastic is so widely used across the planet, microplastics have become widespread in the marine environment.
Larger animals are also affected by plastic consumption because they feed on fish, and are indirectly consuming microplastics already trapped inside their prey. [57] Likewise, humans are also susceptible to microplastic consumption. People who eat seafood also eat some of the microplastics that were ingested by marine life.
Over 700 marine species, including half of the world’s cetaceans (such as whales and dolphins), all of its sea turtles, and a third of its seabirds, are known to ingest plastic.
Humans are exposed to toxic chemicals and microplastics at all stages in the plastics life cycle. Microplastics effects on human health are of growing concern and an area of research. The tiny particles known as microplastics (MPs), have been found in various environmental and biological matrices, including air, water, food, and human tissues.
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health or on the ...
And yet it is humanity’s dumping ground – choked by trillions of pieces of plastic, harmful chemicals and waste run-off. Ninety per cent of the atmospheric heat caused by fossil-fuel emissions ...
Companies have been switching from plastic straws to paper ones on the grounds of being more environmentally friendly. However, new research suggests the good-intentioned trend might not be the ...