Seafood is a standard part of everyone's meals. But with the plastic crisis at large, is seafood safe for human consumption. A recent study suggests that seafood ingest microplastics with different types containing various levels of microplastics.
What are Microplastics?
In a paper published, human activity has caused microplastic contamination in the marine environment. As a result, marine wildlife, including fish, shellfish, and more, unsuspectingly ingest microplastics.
Since the 1960s, human activity has increased, which led to the plastic revolution that has now turned the industry into a $600 billion global industry.
8 metric tons of plastic enter the oceans annually.
Microplastics are small pieces no greater than 5 millimeters in length. Marine wildlife cannot separate their food from plastic, which leads to the unintentional consumption of plastic.
According to the National Ocean Service, microplastics can come from various sources, including plastic debris, microbeads, and polyethylene plastic.
Microbeads have been a problem for over 50 years since it first appeared in personal care products like exfoliants, toothpaste, and even cleaning products.
When plastics enter our waterway system, the degradation rate varies depending on the shape, density, purpose of the plastic, and polymer used.
How Much Microplastic is in Seafood?
As stated in a study published in December, mollusks-- like mussels, scallops, and oysters-- collected from Asia's coasts contain the highest microplastics levels among other seafood. The microplastic content for mollusks that coincide with contamination levels reported was 0-10.5MPs/g.
Crustaceans such as crab, shrimps, and lobsters together with fish samples contained 0.1-8.6 MPs/g and 0-2.9 MPs/g, respectively.
The research's statistical data suggest that the maximum annual human microplastic uptake is roughly around 55,000 microplastics.
Microplastics All Around Us
Unfortunately, with the rise of the plastic industry, most of our daily lives heavily depend on plastic products, from water bottles and baby bottles to shopping bags and cling wrap. Plastic is all around us. Microplastics are all around us.
In a recent study, even baby bottles are not safe. These tiny teets shed millions of microplastics, which parents are often unaware of.
People are exposed continuously to microplastics that we either inhale or often ingest unconsciously.
What are the Health Effects of Microplastics?
Numerous studies and research have confirmed the worrying presence of microplastics in our environment. And with the microplastic levels in seafood. It raises concerns.
Despite the difficulties in measuring health risks, according to the study author Evangelos Danopoulos, the evidence is clear. Lifestyle change is the best way to avoid any adverse health effects.
The nature of microplastics makes them intrinsically hard to research," says Danopoulos on TODAY.
The evident exposure to microplastics can be considered a call for humans to drastically change their lifestyles and lean away from plastic products. For now, more research is underway to fully understand the adverse effects of microplastics on the human body.
Also Read : Microplastic Pollution is Killing Us, Slowly
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