Helen Brigs
BBC, environment
Scientists analyzed 10.000 autopsies performed on marine animals to better understand how plastic ingestion leads to death.
The study found that seabirds face extreme risk after ingesting just 23 pieces of plastic, and there is a 90 percent chance they will die.
Marine mammals reach a similar level of danger with 29 pieces, while sea turtles must ingest 405 pieces of plastic to reach the same threshold.
Researchers were surprised at how little plastic can become dangerous; an amount of plastic smaller than the volume of a soccer ball can be fatal to a dolphin, while seabirds can die from ingesting just a few pieces of rubber smaller than a pea.
They say the findings could help guide global efforts to protect animals in the wild.
"It's a very important reminder that plastic pollution really does pose an existential threat to ocean life," said lead researcher Dr Erin Murphy from the US environmental group Oceans and Oceans. Ocean Conservancy.
The analysis used data from autopsies of seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals such as seals, sea lions and dolphins, collected from around the world.
Almost half of the sea turtles studied, a third of seabirds and one in ten marine mammals ate plastic.
The research estimated the risk of death from ingesting different types of plastic in each group of marine animals.
The type of plastic was found to matter: rubber is the most dangerous to seabirds, soft plastic and fishing debris pose the greatest risk to marine mammals, and both hard and soft plastic endanger turtles.
The study only looked at plastic found in the stomachs of animals.
It did not assess the chemical consequences of the entanglement, which means the true extent of the damage is likely higher.
Hundreds of marine species have been found with plastic in their bodies.
Birds often swallow plastic fragments, and turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish.
Until now, however, scientists have not had precise data on how deadly plastic is for animals of different sizes.
"To effectively address the problem of plastic pollution, the science is clear. We need to reduce the amount of plastic we produce, improve collection and recycling, and clean up what's already out there," Murphy said.
The research was published in the Official Journal of the American National Academies of Sciences.
Watch the video: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
BBC is in Serbian from now on and on YouTube, follow us HERE.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram i Viber. If you have a topic suggestion for us, please contact bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
- There are more than 170 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the oceans
- Ocean Pollution: Why We Can't See Plastic in the Seas
- An island of garbage in the ocean three times the size of France
- Mysterious things that appear on beaches
- We're Killing Them: Horrifying Photos of Birds Around the World Living in Human Waste
- 'Japan is treating the ocean as its sewer': Outrage over controversial decision to release radioactive water from Fukushima
Bonus video:
