Microplastic Ocean Pollution: Invisible But Deadly
by Judith S. Weis, Marine Scientist
Microplastics are entering the marine food chain, endangering the ocean biosphere –and humans.
Plastic pollution is a clear and severe problem in our world’s oceans, as well as freshwaters and land. Most of the studies to date have focused on the marine environment. The billions of pieces of plastics floating around are gradually becoming documented by scientists, videographers, and photographers around the world.
And their effects on marine life are generally well-known: entanglement and ingestion leading to an untimely death. Photos of marine wildlife tangled in plastic bags, 6-pack rings, or fishing gear are common, as are photos of autopsied dead whales or birds with their stomachs full of plastics.
But what about the plastics that don’t appear in the pictures we’re seeing because they are too small? I am referring to microplastics.
Microplastics: Mostly Invisible and Everywhere
Microplastics range in size from a few millimeters down to microscopic, and come from a variety of different sources, for example, personal care products, wearing of car tires, and the breakup of larger plastic pieces.
Microplastics are mostly invisible and everywhere. Initially, scientists believed this to be solely a marine problem, since microplastics were first discovered in our oceans. They believed that they floated, and so sampling was done near the surface of the water.
As was soon discovered, this notion was very wrong. Microplastics are found dispersed throughout the water, as deep as the seven-mile deep Marianas Trench and entrapped in Arctic sea ice. Their numbers in rivers, lakes, and oceans reach the trillions, and quadrillions, and being plastic, they don’t break down.
Microplastics Attract Toxic Chemicals
Furthermore, these tiny plastic pieces act as magnets for chemical contaminants in the water. Since microplastics attract chemicals from the water, they provide a route for toxic chemicals to move into marine organisms.
These tiny and often contaminated pieces of plastic get eaten by small plankton animals, as well as larger animals that eat by filtering the water, such as clams and oysters. In some smaller species, microplastics can block the digestive system and limit the amount of ‘real’ food these animals are consuming.
Microplastics In The Food Chain
Some marine animals actually prefer to eat microplastics over “real food.” Microplastics are being consumed by small marine organisms and passed up the food web. Research in this relatively new field of study, suggests that microplastics are harmful to the health and physiology of marine species.
And who sits at the top of the food web? We do. Undoubtedly, we all have microplastics in our tissues. Even the sea salt that you bought in a health food store has microplastics, since it is produced by evaporating sea water.
Major Culprit? Laundry Microfibers
But by far the most abundant type of microplastic in our oceans is long thin pieces, called microfibers (approximately 85%). Where do these microfibers come from? Look no further than your laundry. Synthetic clothing sheds thousands of microfibers in washing machines, and these tiny fibers pass through the washing machine filters. Many will be captured at wastewater treatment facilities after rinsing down the drain, but still billions will escape to the natural world.
What about places like the East End, where there are individual septic tanks rather than sewage treatment plants? I have not seen any studies on this but assume that the microplastics in waste water will enter the groundwater, and eventually come up in our faucets.
How do these little fibers affect us? These fibers are being found as ‘fallout’ in our air, in our drinking water, and even in human lung biopsies. They are ubiquitous. The potential for humans to ingest microplastics in the seafood we are eating is certain, but we don’t understand at all what this means for our health.
Testing, Solutions Needed
When water is tested, it is tested for a certain suite of chemical contaminants for which the EPA has set maximum contaminant levels, based mostly on toxicity tests on rats and mice. There are no standards set for microplastics, no established techniques to quantify them, and no way to know how many might be harmful.
Marine and environmental scientists are exploring how microplastics enter the environment, how they move, and how they affect different species, but we cannot solve this problem on our own.
One proposed solution is putting devices in washing machines to catch the microfibers at their source. But this would require individuals to buy the devices and clean them off periodically. The fraction of the population likely to do this is very small, and these devices capture less than one-third of the fibers released. Retrofitting the millions of washing machines in the US with finer filters is also a daunting proposition.
A large part of the solution should ultimately lie at the real source – the manufacturing of synthetic fabrics. Fiber and textile scientists have the knowledge and ability to help here. They are the ones who can help find ways to limit the shedding properties of synthetic fabrics and create new synthetics that won’t shed (as much).
I will be attending workshops and scientific sessions in which environmental scientists and textile scientists putting their heads together to better understand how we can solve this global problem, which is at once both tiny and enormous.
The APC will be holding a forum about drinking water, “From the Ice Age To Our Taps” on October 30. The Forum will take place at Ashawagh Hall in Springs, East Hampton NY on October 30. It will begin with refreshments at 5:30pm, to be followed by the panel at 6pm and the Q&A at 7pm. The forum is free and open to the public.
