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from the teenage-mutant-ninja-plastic-eaters dept.
'A single piece of plastic' can kill sea turtles, says study
A new study suggests that ingesting even a single piece of plastic can be deadly for sea turtles. Researchers found there was a one in five chance of death for a turtle who consumed just one item - rising to 50% for 14 pieces. The team found that younger turtles are at a higher risk of dying from exposure to plastic than adults.
The authors say their research raises concerns over the long term survival of some turtle species. The never ending surge of plastic into the world's oceans is taking an increasing toll on iconic marine species. While it has been relatively straightforward for researchers to document the threat to animals who become entangled in plastic and drown, determining the impact of consumed plastic is much harder.
The authors of this study estimate that around half of all the sea turtles on the planet have ingested plastic - this rises to 90% among juvenile green sea turtles off the coast of Brazil.
A quantitative analysis linking sea turtle mortality and plastic debris ingestion (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30038-z) (DX)
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 14 2018, @05:27PM
Plastic is a useful material. It's light and tough and you can form it into practically any shape. There's really nothing waiting in the wings to replace it, unless somebody makes a breakthrough soon with the mass production of graphene and carbon nanotubes.
The people concerned about its killing wildlife, or causing ecological damage are not wrong, though. We must recycle as close to 100% of the stuff as we can of the varieties that are not bio-degradable. Playground jungle gyms made out of tough, recycled plastic have started to appear; that's a fine second life for the discarded stuff. Let's do more of that.
It's also not a bad idea to scale back on our initial use of plastic, either. We do have alternatives. Instead of crates of bottled water, we can install those drinking fountains that have an option for filling a bottle. Instead of tupperware to hold leftovers in the fridge, there are mason jars and other glassware that work well and are even easier to clean and re-use because they don't absorb odors the way plastic can. Instead of plastic shopping bags (one of the most cited culprits), there are cloth bags.
Washington DC delenda est.