Researchers in the UK and Australia have discovered for the first time a new disease in seabirds caused entirely by plastic. The researchers believe that their findings may be just the tip of the iceberg given the prevalence of plastic pollution in nature, and other birds may also be affected. This is the first time researchers have identified plastic-induced fibrosis disease in wild animals. They called this fibrotic disease plastic disease to make it clear that it was caused by plastic in the environment.
"Plastic disease" is a fibrotic disease that is not caused by viruses or bacteria, but by small pieces of plastic that inflame the digestive tract. Over time, ongoing inflammation causes tissues to become scarred and deformed, with knock-on effects on growth, digestion, and survival. These conditions are caused by excessive scarring left when a part of the body is repeatedly inflamed and prevents the wound from healing properly. Generally, temporary scar tissue forms after injury, which helps to strengthen repair. But when inflammation occurs again and again, too much scar tissue is formed, which reduces the flexibility of the tissue and leads to a change in its structure, that is, fibrosis.
According to the British Museum of Natural History website, this plastic disease is particularly harmful to young birds because their stomach capacity is small, and in extreme cases, chicks will starve to death because their stomachs are filled with indigestible plastic. Previous studies have shown that as many as 90% of pale-footed shearwater juveniles have plastic fed by parent birds.
Coincidentally, last month in the South China Sea, a stranded dwarf sperm whale died during rescue. After a pathological dissection on her the next day, a large amount of plastic waste was found in her body, and an incompletely formed baby whale was also found. After nearly 5 hours of dissection, a large amount of plastic waste was found in the whale‘s stomach, including plastic film, packaging bags and plastic cups. According to the autopsy results, the expert team speculated that the cause of stranding and death of the dwarf sperm whale was: the accumulation of plastic waste in the stomach for a long time caused the dwarf sperm whale to be unable to eat, gastrointestinal obstruction, and a large number of parasites in the gastrointestinal tract and liver, resulting in malnutrition; Together with pregnant individuals, severe low protein leads to exhaustion stranded beaches and eventual death.
Millions of tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year. While half of this plastic waste is recycled, incinerated or discarded in landfills, a significant portion still ends up in our oceans. In fact, much of the ocean plastic waste clumps together, forming a plastic waste vortex in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii, which is three times the size of France. There are still about 75 million to 199 million tons of plastic waste in the oceans, accounting for 85% of the total weight of marine litter. Without effective interventions, the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems is expected to nearly triple to 23-37 million tonnes per year by 2040. The United Nations has called for cooperative global interventions to prevent further aggravation of ocean plastic pollution, which jeopardizes human security and ecological balance.
At present, some international organizations and relevant departments of countries and regions have taken a series of countermeasures to solve the problem of marine litter, especially plastic waste in the ocean. There are many international conventions and international organizations working to address marine litter and pollution worldwide, including the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, the International Maritime Organization, the 1972 London Convention and its Conference of the Parties, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Committee on Fisheries. WTO members are also taking action to support the international community in reducing and phasing out plastic products, promoting ministerial dialogue and adjusting trade policies to reduce plastic pollution.
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In addition, a series of legislative instruments, soft legal measures and regulatory regulations are also showing results. Plastic bans, excise taxes on plastic products, improved waste disposal techniques, economic incentives, extended producer responsibility regimes, regional conventions, marine litter removal schemes, educational initiatives and public awareness campaigns are being implemented on a large scale. Changing public attitudes and increased public interest, awareness and action towards recycling or alternatives to plastics are also providing impetus for the implementation of these plans.
Topcentral® has been making continuous efforts to this end. In addition to recycling plastic recycled from the ocean, they will also be used in a variety of scenarios to achieve their high-value applications. We are advocating the use of some environmentally friendly innovative technologies, such as the use of blockchain, big data technology for marking and tracing in the supply chain of plastic products, and these high-value application products will also meet you in the near future; In addition, we will lead joint industry initiatives, focusing on plastic recycling, application design, etc. We expect stricter norms and standards to align with national guidelines and shift the focus of production from fossil-fuel-based plastics to recycled materials.
As plastic emissions continue to grow and plastic pollution becomes increasingly prevalent in all environments around the world, all biological contact with plastics is inevitable. Today‘s birds, fish, maybe tomorrow will befall us. A single solution cannot truly reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean, and only by uniting actions at all levels of government, business and citizens, and taking coordinated and systematic interventions upstream and downstream of plastic production and use, can truly curb the further increase in marine pollution.
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