SUNY Study: Great Lakes, Most Plastic Pollution in the World

[presence]

Plastic pollutes the Great Lakes in concentrations higher than any other body of water on Earth, concluded a recent study conducted by the State University of New York.

https://www.commondreams.org/sites/commondreams.org/files/imagecache/headline_image/article_images/plastics_photo_from_marcus_eriksen.jpg
Beads of microplastic found in Lake Erie by Mason and her team (Photo from Marcus Eriksen) The first project to survey plastic pollution in the Lakes, students and faculty from the University spent the summer sailing Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Erie collecting samples with a trolling net.

“We had two samples in Lake Erie that we just kept going back and rechecking the data, because the count, the number of plastic particles in the sample, was three times greater than any sample collected anywhere in the entire world

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/02-8

[youngbuck]

Scientists suspect that the microplastics are either washing up on beaches or becoming absorbed into the food chain via microorganisms or fish, which presents a real threat to human health, says Mason. "The fish may not immediately die, but they could remain toxic, and that’s really scary. If the plastics and chemicals are moving into the food chain, they’re moving into us.Mmmm, plastic, it does a body good (especially your endocrine system).

[Bruno]

Sad.

More plastic manufacterers should convert to biodegradable plastics (preferably made from hemp). The plastics can also be forced to degrade faster with exposure to sunlight, for certain products such as plastic.