How harmful are microplastics in the ocean?
Microplastics have been found in the deepest ocean trenches, the most remote Arctic ice, and even inside human blood.
The answer
Microplastics, plastic fragments smaller than 5 millimeters, have pervaded every corner of the marine environment, from surface waters to the hadal zone of the Mariana Trench. Marine organisms from zooplankton to whales ingest them, and microplastics can carry toxic chemicals like PCBs and heavy metals that bioaccumulate up the food chain. Studies have found microplastics in over 700 marine species, and research published in 2022 detected them in human blood for the first time. An estimated 14 million tonnes of microplastics lie on the ocean floor, and their full long-term ecological and health impacts are still being studied.
Source: Science
- microplastics
- ocean pollution
- marine health
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