Microplastics Found In Mussels From China To The Arctic Ocean

[hatrack]

OSLO (Reuters) - Tiny bits of plastic are contaminating mussels from the European Arctic to China in a sign of the global spread of ocean pollution that can end up on people’s dinner plates. “Microplastics have been found in mussels everywhere scientists have looked,” she said.

Past surveys have found microplastics off nations including China, Chile, Canada, Britain and Belgium. Off Norway, the molluscs contained on average 1.8 bits of microplastic - defined as smaller than 5 mm long (0.2 inch) - with 4.3 in the Arctic.

Last year, Chinese researchers suggested that mussels could be a global “bioindicator of microplastic pollution” because the molluscs live on the seabed where many plastics end up and, unlike fish, stay in the same place.

The impact of microplastics’ on marine life or humans when eaten is unclear. Scientists suspect you would have to eat vast amounts of shellfish to be at risk, straining even Belgian diets where moules et frites (mussels and French fries) are a favorite dish.

EDIT

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-mussels/plastic-found-in-mussels-from-arctic-to-china-enters-human-food-idUSKBN1EE194

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Stop washing fleece garments. Large source of microplastics.