Microplastics – News and Features

Researchs observed how nanoplastics, despite existing in low concentrations, caused damage to the DNA, cell membranes and produce oxidative stress in the most common Mediterranean mussel consumed by humans.

Scientists find that plastic nanoparticles are easily ingested by marine organisms, accumulate in the organisms over time, and risk being transferred up the food chain, threatening food safety and posing health risks.

BC’s premier shellfish farming region is heavily contaminated with microplastics, according to a new study. The findings show action is required to reduce the environmental impact and entry to the food chain.

A new study shows that increasing microplastic accumulation along the Gulf of Mexico’s beaches could alter the composition of shoreline sand and jeopardize the loggerhead sea turtles’ sensitive incubation environments.

Experts have recently found higher amounts of microplastic in arctic sea ice than ever before, the majority of which were microscopically small. However, the different types of plastic showed a unique footprint in the ice allowing the researchers to trace them back to possible sources.

More than 79 thousand tonnes of ocean plastic are floating inside The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a figure up to 16 times higher than previously estimated, according to a recent study.

A new study sheds light on the magnitude of microplastic pollution in our oceans. The study found microplastics in the stomachs of nearly three out of every four mesopelagic fish caught in the Northwest Atlantic -- one of the highest levels globally.

With UK Prime Minister Theresa May announcing today that UK supermarkets must have a plastic free aisle as part of her government’s 25-year environmental improvement plan, it is the latest in a line of reforms seeking to reduce the harmful plastic contamination that has become a worldwide scourge.

Scientists have long known that marine animals mistakenly eat plastic debris because the tiny bits of floating plastic might look like prey. Scientists have now shown though that in corals this potentially harmful behaviour occurs because chemicals in the plastic make it tasty.

Research suggests that over 700,000 microfibres could be released in waste water with every run of a domestic washing machine.