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WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Extracts of okra and other slimy plants commonly used in cooking can help remove dangerous microplastics from wastewater, scientists said Tuesday. The new research was presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, and offers an alternative to the synthetic chemicals currently used in treatment plants that can themselves pose risks to health. “In order to go ahead and remove microplastic or any other type of materials, […]
PARIS, France (AFP) – From Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, microplastics are everywhere – even high in the Earth’s troposphere where wind speeds allow them to travel vast distances, a study showed Tuesday. Microplastics are tiny fragments — measuring less than 5 millimetres — that come from packaging, clothing, vehicles and other sources and have been detected on land, in water and in the air. Scientists from the French national research institute CNRS sampled […]
by Etienne BALMER and Hiroshi HIYAMA Agence France-Presse SHIMODA, Japa (AFP) – A boat’s crew casts a net into the seemingly clean waters off Japan’s Izu peninsula, but not to catch fish — they are scooping up microplastics to learn more about the pollution’s impact on marine life. Tiny floating fragments from plastic packaging, synthetic clothing and fishing nets have proliferated over the past four decades, and are now found in every part of the […]
by Kelly Macnamara Agence France-Presse Households in Europe and North America are flooding the oceans with plastic pollution simply by washing their clothes, scientists said Tuesday after research found the majority of microplastics in Arctic seawater were polyester fibres. Plastic particles have infiltrated even the most remote and seemingly-pristine regions of the planet. These tiny fragments have been discovered inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean — the Mariana Trench — peppering Arctic […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Scientists will begin a two-year survey of microplastics in the coastal waters of Japan from April, a research group announced on Wednesday, with concern growing about the impact of plastics on the oceans. The survey organized by Japanese scientists and the Tara Ocean Foundation will be conducted by several marine research facilities located across Japan, from the northern island of Hokkaido to southwestern Kyushu. Researchers will collect samples for analysis of microplastics […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday the level of microplastics in drinking-water is not yet dangerous for humans but called for more research into potential future risk. In its first report into the effects of microplastics on human health, WHO looked into the specific impact of microplastics in tap and bottled water. “The headline messages to reassure drinking water consumers around the world, that based on this assessment, our assessment […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Mosquito larvae have been observed ingesting microplastics that can be passed up the food chain, researchers said Wednesday, potentially uncovering a new way that the polluting particles could damage the environment. Microplastics — tiny plastic shards broken down from man-made products such as synthetic clothing, car tyres and contact lenses — litter much of the world’s oceans. Hard to spot and harder to collect, they can seriously harm marine wildlife […]
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Researchers warned Tuesday of a “troubling” accumulation of microplastics in sea ice floating in the Arctic ocean, a major potential source of water pollution as global warming melts the sheets of frozen water. A team from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) found 17 different plastic types in ice samples gathered during three Arctic expeditions on board the research icebreaker Polarstern […]
