Plastic Pollution and the Effects on Human Health

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Recommended: Effects of plastic in the ocean

Where does all the plastic go. Every bit of plastic that has been created is still here. This is because plastic is one-hundred percent non-biodegradable! Even the most degraded plastic down to polymers cannot be digested by bacteria (Laist, 1997). If global issues like starvation and climate change are not enough to stress on, the weight of an issue literally churning in the Pacific Ocean is startling. For decades the majority of the world’s population has not been properly educated on the nature of plastic and the potential harm it can do to our environment and our physical health. Due to factors of man and the natural effects of nature, a major problem has developed that is now harming our food.

Marine plastic is a visible sign of human impact on the marine environment. Plastic debris is more than an aesthetic problem. It can potentially cause danger to marine organisms through ingestion and entanglement (Laist, 1997). There’s so much plastic out there that it’s starting to compete as a food source for many different organisms. Plastic eventually breaks down into food size pieces and is mistaken for food by many organisms. They mistake the plastic particles for plankton. The public has a desire for certain types of fish which happen to have an accumulation of different toxins in their body. This happens when those larger fish species eat large amounts of smaller fish and other organisms that feed off the plankton-plastic mixture. Plastics are toxins can de-absorb out from the plastic and into the tissue and organs of the fish that are eating those smaller fish. The toxins move up the food chain becoming dangerously concentrated. Decades ago the number of marine mammals that died each year due to ingestion and entanglement ap...

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..., J., and M. Moran. 2009. Comparative day/night metatranscriptomic analysis of microbial communities in the North Pacific subtropical gyre. Environmental Microbiology. 1-18.

http://www.fao.org/focus/e/fisheries/consum.htm

Corno, G., Karl, D., Church, M., Letelier, R., Lukas, R., Bidigare, R., and M. Abbott. 2007. Impact of climate forcing on ecosystem processes in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Journal of Geophysical Research. (112) 1-14.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Chemicals Programme: www.chem.unep.ch

United States Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs: http://www.state.gov/e/oes/

Ritter L; Solomon KR, Forget J, Stemeroff M, O'Leary C.. "Persistent organic pollutants". United Nations Environment Programme. http://www.chem.unep.ch/pops/ritter/en/ritteren.pdf. Retrieved 2012-02-16.

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