Posted on 17/11/07
A toxic Trojan horse: Tiny plastic particles pack a major punch
MICROPLASTIC UNFANTASTICTHE NEWS The planet's oceans are full of plastic trash that has broken down into microscopic particles. These "microplastics" are impossible to clean up. And now research suggests they act like tiny Trojan horses as well, carrying toxic chemicals that animals inadvertently swallow. Scientists at the University of Plymouth found that microplastics soaked up far more phenanthrene (a common marine pollutant) than samples of normal sand - and when the toxic microplastics were added to tanks of marine worms, the concentration of phenanthrene in their tissues shot up 80 per cent.
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