Julian Kirby, a researcher and plastics campaigner at Friends of the Earth, poses with bottles containing water samples from with River Irwell in the United Kingdom.
Bolstering Call for Urgent Global Action, New Study Shows Microplastic Pollution 'Absolutely Everywhere'
"We need to be monitoring our waters now and we need to think, as a country and a world, how we can be reducing our reliance on plastic."
Bolstering global demands to #BreakFreeFromPlastic and end the world's worsening pollution crisis, a new study from the United Kingdom shows that "microplastics are being found absolutely everywhere."
"Plastic is polluting our rivers, lakes, and wetlands in a similar way as pollutants such as so-called 'emerging contaminants' like pharmaceutical waste, personal care products, and pesticides."
--Christian Dunn, Bangor University
"It's no use looking back in 20 years time and saying: 'If only we'd realized just how bad it was,'" lead researcher Christian Dunn of Bangor University in Wales told the Guardian. "We need to be monitoring our waters now and we need to think, as a country and a world, how we can be reducing our reliance on plastic."
Dunn worked with a team of scientists and postgraduate students as well as the environmental group Friends of the Earth to test 10 rivers and lakes, including the Thames River in London and two sites in the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, for microplastics.
Microplastics are tiny particles that have broken away from large plastics such as synthetic clothing or discarded food containers. Much of the concern over microplastic contamination has come from studying ocean pollution, but researchers also have found particles in sea turtles' bellies, many marine mammals, and even human stools.
"It was more than a little startling to discover microplastics were present in even the most remote sites we tested, and quite depressing they were there in some of our country's most iconic locations," Dunn said in a statement. "Plastic is polluting our rivers, lakes, and wetlands in a similar way as pollutants such as so-called 'emerging contaminants' like pharmaceutical waste, personal care products, and pesticides.
Dunn said the findings makes clear that "there needs to be a concerted effort to regularly monitor all our inland waters." He also acknowledged that more research is need on microplastics because "as with all emerging contaminants, we don't yet fully know the dangers they present to wildlife and ecosystems, or even human health, and to what levels they occur in all our water systems."
A report put out last month warned that "the lifecycle impacts of plastic paint an unequivocally toxic picture: plastic threatens human health on a global scale."
Writing for the Guardian on Wednesday, journalist Damian Carrington outlined another study released in February that found "microplastics can harbor harmful microbes."
Research by the National University of Singapore found more than 400 types of bacteria on 275 pieces of microplastic collected from local beaches. They included bugs that cause gastroenteritis and wound infections in humans, as well as those linked to the bleaching of coral reefs.
In light of the recent studies, Julian Kirby, a plastics campaigner at Friends of the Earth, called on his country's MPs to "get behind new legislation, currently before Parliament, that would commit the government to drastically reduce the flow of plastic pollution that's blighting our environment."
Kirby also emphasized that the crisis is a global issue: "Plastic pollution is everywhere--it's been found in our rivers, our highest mountains, and our deepest oceans."
"Countries must seize the opportunity of current global discussions, to develop a holistic response to the plastic health crisis that involves reducing the production, use, and disposal of plastic worldwide."
--David Azoulay, CIEL
Public health and environmental campaigners and experts have welcomed regional efforts, such as the European Union's new rules on single-use plastics, but continue to emphasize that tackling plastic pollution requires international cooperation.
"Both the supply chains and the impacts of plastic cross and re-cross borders, continents, and oceans," David Azoulay of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said in February. "No country can effectively protect its citizens from those impacts on its own, and no global instrument exists today to fully address the toxic lifecycle of plastics."
"Countries must seize the opportunity of current global discussions," he concluded, "to develop a holistic response to the plastic health crisis that involves reducing the production, use, and disposal of plastic worldwide."
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Bolstering global demands to #BreakFreeFromPlastic and end the world's worsening pollution crisis, a new study from the United Kingdom shows that "microplastics are being found absolutely everywhere."
"Plastic is polluting our rivers, lakes, and wetlands in a similar way as pollutants such as so-called 'emerging contaminants' like pharmaceutical waste, personal care products, and pesticides."
--Christian Dunn, Bangor University
"It's no use looking back in 20 years time and saying: 'If only we'd realized just how bad it was,'" lead researcher Christian Dunn of Bangor University in Wales told the Guardian. "We need to be monitoring our waters now and we need to think, as a country and a world, how we can be reducing our reliance on plastic."
Dunn worked with a team of scientists and postgraduate students as well as the environmental group Friends of the Earth to test 10 rivers and lakes, including the Thames River in London and two sites in the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, for microplastics.
Microplastics are tiny particles that have broken away from large plastics such as synthetic clothing or discarded food containers. Much of the concern over microplastic contamination has come from studying ocean pollution, but researchers also have found particles in sea turtles' bellies, many marine mammals, and even human stools.
"It was more than a little startling to discover microplastics were present in even the most remote sites we tested, and quite depressing they were there in some of our country's most iconic locations," Dunn said in a statement. "Plastic is polluting our rivers, lakes, and wetlands in a similar way as pollutants such as so-called 'emerging contaminants' like pharmaceutical waste, personal care products, and pesticides.
Dunn said the findings makes clear that "there needs to be a concerted effort to regularly monitor all our inland waters." He also acknowledged that more research is need on microplastics because "as with all emerging contaminants, we don't yet fully know the dangers they present to wildlife and ecosystems, or even human health, and to what levels they occur in all our water systems."
A report put out last month warned that "the lifecycle impacts of plastic paint an unequivocally toxic picture: plastic threatens human health on a global scale."
Writing for the Guardian on Wednesday, journalist Damian Carrington outlined another study released in February that found "microplastics can harbor harmful microbes."
Research by the National University of Singapore found more than 400 types of bacteria on 275 pieces of microplastic collected from local beaches. They included bugs that cause gastroenteritis and wound infections in humans, as well as those linked to the bleaching of coral reefs.
In light of the recent studies, Julian Kirby, a plastics campaigner at Friends of the Earth, called on his country's MPs to "get behind new legislation, currently before Parliament, that would commit the government to drastically reduce the flow of plastic pollution that's blighting our environment."
Kirby also emphasized that the crisis is a global issue: "Plastic pollution is everywhere--it's been found in our rivers, our highest mountains, and our deepest oceans."
"Countries must seize the opportunity of current global discussions, to develop a holistic response to the plastic health crisis that involves reducing the production, use, and disposal of plastic worldwide."
--David Azoulay, CIEL
Public health and environmental campaigners and experts have welcomed regional efforts, such as the European Union's new rules on single-use plastics, but continue to emphasize that tackling plastic pollution requires international cooperation.
"Both the supply chains and the impacts of plastic cross and re-cross borders, continents, and oceans," David Azoulay of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said in February. "No country can effectively protect its citizens from those impacts on its own, and no global instrument exists today to fully address the toxic lifecycle of plastics."
"Countries must seize the opportunity of current global discussions," he concluded, "to develop a holistic response to the plastic health crisis that involves reducing the production, use, and disposal of plastic worldwide."
Bolstering global demands to #BreakFreeFromPlastic and end the world's worsening pollution crisis, a new study from the United Kingdom shows that "microplastics are being found absolutely everywhere."
"Plastic is polluting our rivers, lakes, and wetlands in a similar way as pollutants such as so-called 'emerging contaminants' like pharmaceutical waste, personal care products, and pesticides."
--Christian Dunn, Bangor University
"It's no use looking back in 20 years time and saying: 'If only we'd realized just how bad it was,'" lead researcher Christian Dunn of Bangor University in Wales told the Guardian. "We need to be monitoring our waters now and we need to think, as a country and a world, how we can be reducing our reliance on plastic."
Dunn worked with a team of scientists and postgraduate students as well as the environmental group Friends of the Earth to test 10 rivers and lakes, including the Thames River in London and two sites in the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, for microplastics.
Microplastics are tiny particles that have broken away from large plastics such as synthetic clothing or discarded food containers. Much of the concern over microplastic contamination has come from studying ocean pollution, but researchers also have found particles in sea turtles' bellies, many marine mammals, and even human stools.
"It was more than a little startling to discover microplastics were present in even the most remote sites we tested, and quite depressing they were there in some of our country's most iconic locations," Dunn said in a statement. "Plastic is polluting our rivers, lakes, and wetlands in a similar way as pollutants such as so-called 'emerging contaminants' like pharmaceutical waste, personal care products, and pesticides.
Dunn said the findings makes clear that "there needs to be a concerted effort to regularly monitor all our inland waters." He also acknowledged that more research is need on microplastics because "as with all emerging contaminants, we don't yet fully know the dangers they present to wildlife and ecosystems, or even human health, and to what levels they occur in all our water systems."
A report put out last month warned that "the lifecycle impacts of plastic paint an unequivocally toxic picture: plastic threatens human health on a global scale."
Writing for the Guardian on Wednesday, journalist Damian Carrington outlined another study released in February that found "microplastics can harbor harmful microbes."
Research by the National University of Singapore found more than 400 types of bacteria on 275 pieces of microplastic collected from local beaches. They included bugs that cause gastroenteritis and wound infections in humans, as well as those linked to the bleaching of coral reefs.
In light of the recent studies, Julian Kirby, a plastics campaigner at Friends of the Earth, called on his country's MPs to "get behind new legislation, currently before Parliament, that would commit the government to drastically reduce the flow of plastic pollution that's blighting our environment."
Kirby also emphasized that the crisis is a global issue: "Plastic pollution is everywhere--it's been found in our rivers, our highest mountains, and our deepest oceans."
"Countries must seize the opportunity of current global discussions, to develop a holistic response to the plastic health crisis that involves reducing the production, use, and disposal of plastic worldwide."
--David Azoulay, CIEL
Public health and environmental campaigners and experts have welcomed regional efforts, such as the European Union's new rules on single-use plastics, but continue to emphasize that tackling plastic pollution requires international cooperation.
"Both the supply chains and the impacts of plastic cross and re-cross borders, continents, and oceans," David Azoulay of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said in February. "No country can effectively protect its citizens from those impacts on its own, and no global instrument exists today to fully address the toxic lifecycle of plastics."
"Countries must seize the opportunity of current global discussions," he concluded, "to develop a holistic response to the plastic health crisis that involves reducing the production, use, and disposal of plastic worldwide."