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. 2015 Feb;123(2):A34-41.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.123-A34.

New link in the food chain? Marine plastic pollution and seafood safety

Nate Seltenrich

New link in the food chain? Marine plastic pollution and seafood safety

Nate Seltenrich. Environ Health Perspect. 2015 Feb.

Erratum in

No abstract available

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Figures

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Investigators are researching whether consumption of plastic debris by marine organisms translates into toxic exposures for people who eat seafood. © Alex RM/Alamy
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Different marine plastics resemble foods eaten at various trophic levels. These plastic bags look like the jellyfish eaten by turtles. © Norbert Wu/Minden Pictures/Corbis
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Plastic debris can travel far from its point of departure—this beach in Svalbard, Norway, for instance, is only about 600 miles from the North Pole. A 2014 study reported finding large quantities of microplastics frozen into Arctic ice. © Ashley Cooper/Corbis
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Ocean currents carry plastic debris into the five major ocean gyres. Thousands of tons of microplastics are estimated to bob in these gyres, but more than half of all plastic debris likely sinks upon reaching ocean waters. © Jane Whitney
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Small plastic pellets known as nurdles are used as a feedstock for producing plastic goods. In July 2012 Typhoon Vicente swept more than 165 tons of nurdles from a cargo ship off the coast of Hong Kong. © Nigel Cattlin/Science Source
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Polyethylene microbeads (orange, shown with yellow flakes of silica) are used as defoliants in many personal care products. In June 2014 Illinois became the first U.S. state to ban the manufacture and sale of products containing microbeads, which are small enough to slip through filters at wastewater treatment plants. © Steve Gschmeissner/Science Source
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© Michael Northrop, Joseph Caspermeyer, and Rolf Halden/Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University
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This rainbow runner had consumed 17 plastic fragments. Marine plastic pollution plays an unknown role in human exposures to toxic chemicals. Regardless of what that role may turn out to be, sources for this story believe we have options for realizing the benefits of plastics without the hazards of marine pollution. © 5 Gyres Institute
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. EPA. Bisphenol A (BPA) Action Plan Summary [website]. Washington, DC:U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (updated 29 January 2014). Available: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/actionplans/bpa.html [accessed 28 January 2015]
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    1. Rochman CM, et al. Ingested plastic transfers hazardous chemicals to fish and induces hepatic stress. Sci Rep 33263.2013; 10.1038/srep03263 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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