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Do You Eat Plastic? |
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by Vivian Nabisere | 30-05-2022 04:33
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Do You Eat Plastic?
'Do you eat plastic?' 'I think so.' Two weeks ago, I would have had a completely different answer to that question. But last week, I saw a cow directly chew on a plastic bag while it sniffed through a rubbish pit. Strange, right? If it had not happened in front of my eyes as I strolled through the area neighbouring my hostel, I would not have believed it. As I researched more on this, I found that Ingestion of plastics is something done often by animals including humans, both directly and indirectly. A study suggests that humans consume about 20 kg of micro plastics in a lifetime. A microplastic particle is any piece of plastic smaller than five millimeters, but many are much smaller and only visible under a microscope. How do we take them in? Microplastics can be found everywhere from water and air to soil and meat. Herbivores dine on them as they graze through fields of grass with plastic in them. The waters are rich in microplastics from poorly disposed of plastic waste, and marine wildlife take them up. As humans, we take them in, in water, seafood, meat products and in air during inhalation. Therefore, I think I have eaten plastic many times as I learn more about the omnipresence of microplastics in our food supply. Plastic in our bodies is a health hazard that can induce cancers, reproductive toxicity, low birth weight and eye and skin irritations. How can we mitigate these? References How much plastic are you eating? https://news.trust.org/item/20201208090301-obmrm Why Are There Microplastics In Meat? https://www.aimplasticfree.com/food/microplastics-in-meat/ Image source: Flickr |
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3 Comments
Hello Vivian, this is your mentor Chelwoon.
Although I have seen a lot of photos of animals entangled with garbage, I still cannot get used to it. It is always heartbreaking to see such photos. The microplastic problem has mainly found in lakes and rivers. We cannot let animals pick up the garbage we dump like in the photo. We must constantly be reminded that there are many animals suffering from pollution caused by human activities because we tend to forget the bad consequences as time goes by.
Thank you for the article!
Regards,
Chelwoon
Posted 01-06-2022 00:47
Hello Vivian, this is your mentor Joon.
It is quite ironic to tell now that we are classifying animals as carnivorous, herbivorous, and omnivorous! I believe it should be changes to plasticovorous or omnivorous from now on. As plastic comes from fossils, which could be based on plants and animals, from earlier era of earth, I believe there are no more point on classifying animals with what they consume. I do not mean that at all actually. I just did not like the current state which every creature is involved with microplastics. Hope we could find ways to remove it from our world.
Well read your article, and let's keep up!
Best,
Joon
Posted 30-05-2022 22:48
Hello Vivian !
I hope you are fine and doing great with your work.
As you mention in your report, we sometimes accidentally consume plastic.
Thank you for sharing about it!
Regard,
Sonika
Posted 30-05-2022 09:32