Every 50 days equivalent to eating a credit card, plastic microbeads into the human food chain

 [World Wide Web Reported Intern Reporter Zhang Xiaoya]

Plastic pollution caused by humans is ultimately self-inflicted?

(CNN) On May 12, 2019, a new study from Newcastle University in Australia warned that the global average weekly intake of 5 grams of plastic is equivalent to one credit card every 50 days.

CNN reported screenshots

According to the report, the Newcastle University study was commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to estimate the global per capita plastic intake on the basis of 52 existing research data. The results show that the global per capita weekly intake of about 2000 plastic particles, the total weight of 5 grams.

The report quoted research reports that these plastic particles are less than 5mm in diameter and mainly come from artificial clothing fibers, microbeads in toothpaste, or larger plastic fragments. When these objects containing plastic particles are discarded and exposed to the natural environment, they will gradually decompose into smaller plastic fragments, which will enter rivers and oceans and be eaten by fish and other marine animals. They can also be absorbed by lettuce, broccoli, lettuce and other plants, and enriched to the edible part and eventually become part of the human food chain.

Scientists from the University of Catania in Italy published a paper in Environmental Research and found that supermarkets in Catania, as well as produce from local produce sellers, contained microplastics ranging from 1.5 microns to 2.5 microns. The researchers collected apples, pears,Carrots, broccoli, potatoes,Samples of lettuce, which they say is the first time scientists have found tiny plastic fragments in fruits and vegetables. Carrots were the most contaminated vegetable in the sample, and more microplastics were found in fruits than vegetables, possibly because the roots of fruit trees were more developed.

In China, the Yantai Coastal Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the Nanjing Soil Research Institute and Leiden University in the Netherlands, found that cracks in the roots of crops such as wheat and lettuce can absorb microplastics in the surrounding soil and water.

These microplastics are absorbed by the roots of the crop and then enriched into the edible fraction. Although the scientific community has known that very small particles (about 50 nanometers) can penetrate the roots of plants, the results are still shocking.

Their paper was published in Nature Sustainability. Willie Peijnenburg, a professor of environmental toxicology at Leiden University, said it had never been thought that microbeads could enter plants.

Carla Senatiraja, a researcher at the University of Newcastle in Australia, told CNN that plastic particles are "visible" in many everyday foods and beverages, such as water, beer, shellfish, seafood and salt, with the largest source of plastic intake being drinking water. Studies have shown that the average person can ingest as many as 1769 plastic particles per week by drinking bottled water or tap water alone. But there are also regional variations in this figure. According to a 2018 survey, the amount of plastic in tap water in the United States and India is twice that of Europe or Indonesia.

Worldwide weekly intake of microplastics per person:

Water: 1769 shellfish seafood: 182 beer: 10 salt: 11 units: (pieces)

Vegetables, data to be studied. Source: CNN

CNN also quoted another new study this month that showed that Americans consume 74000 to 121000 plastic particles a year, and those who only drink bottled water but not tap water, the total amount of plastic particles ingested each year can even reach 90000.

The health risks posed by plastics are also immeasurable.

Richard Lampitt, a professor at the UK's National Oceanography Centre (NOC), said it was difficult to assess the importance of intake without understanding the associated health risks. "There is a lot of uncertainty about the hazards of plastics," he said, adding that the potential hazards and impacts need to be further studied.

"We can't remove plastic," said WWF's Caavita Prakash-Mani, "so we need to address plastic pollution at the source, first of all to stop it from entering nature," she told CNN, stressing that reducing plastic production should be a priority.

CNN notes that more than 0.33 billion tons of plastic are produced globally every year, and that number is expected to triple by 2050.

In this era, no one is a bystander, no one is an outsider, the infinite distance, the countless lives, are related to you and me.

Refuse to waste, save every drop of water, every degree of electricity, every ration;

Refuse to buy wild animal products;

Low-carbon travel, public transport is not only environmentally friendly, but also more convenient;.

Environmentally friendly shopping, replacing plastic bags with cloth bags;

Use disposable tableware as little as possible;

Do a good job of garbage classification and recycling;

……

Human beings are very small, in the face of earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes... we can do nothing, human beings are very strong, make a little action will produce strength, as long as you and I do.

Graphic integration from: World Wide Web, fried eggs