Don't Care About the Ocean? How about YOUR Health?

Some people will think, Lynne, I don't care about the plastic pollution in the ocean.  It has no affect on ME.  And I will tell them: FALSE!

Whether you realize it or not, (and I hope you do after reading this) the pollution in the ocean does affect you.  And it might be affecting you more than you'd think.  Let's bring it back to basics: The Food Chain (in this case, the ocean's food chain).  Remember learning about this in elementary school?  Here is a basic outline of what-eats-what in the ocean.

Brought to you by Action Outdoors.

Now, where do we fit in? We consume fish.  We consume both the "small fish" and the larger "predator" fish.  Gee, thanks Lynne.  I didn't need you to tell me I eat fish but I still don't see the connection.

The plastics in the oceans break down.  No, they don't biodegrade, they just break down.  See my previous post about micro-trash.  So these TINY pieces of plastic are now floating almost everywhere in the oceans and they look pretty similar to zoo plankton, and even phytoplankton, to the average fish.

Zoo plankton

Micro-plastic pellet

Pretty similar, wouldn't you say?  Well, the smaller fish eat these plastic pellets and pieces.  Then the larger fish eat the smaller fish and who eats these larger fish?  Us.  In turn we're eating those pieces of plastic.  You might not know it.  You probably can't tell.  And you're certainly not going to see the plastic.  However, it's what makes up the plastic that you should be concerned about.  Plastic is a purely synthetic material.  Completely man-made.  So when these plastic pieces are floating in the sun and salt water for years on end, they start leaching the chemicals of which they're comprised.  These chemicals will leach INTO the fish that consume them.  And we eat those fish.  Comprendo?

What chemicals are we talking about?  Are they really dangerous?  Yes!  After many research trips and field tests, numerous amounts and types of chemicals have been discovered.  Remember hearing about DDT? That awful pesticide that was popular back in the 40's and 50's?  The pesticide which was ultimately banned by the EPA.  40% of the plastics in the oceans contain it.

How about PCB's?  Also banned by U.S. Congress in 1979 because of it's cancer causing affects. 50% of plastics in the ocean contain this!

And PAH's!  Some can be considered nontoxic, however others are classified as EXTREMELY toxic. 80%!  80% of the plastic pollution floating in the ocean and being consumed by the fish we consume, contain some kind of PAH!

What happens?  Well, here is a brief list of just a few (of MANY) illnesses that have been linked to the above chemicals:

• Skin Rashes
• Liver Damage
• Lowered immune response
• Poor cognitive development in children
• Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 
• Breast Cancer
• Liver Cancer
• Stomach Cancer
• Heart malformations in new-borns
• Diabetes

Convinced?  I hope so!  If you don't care about the ocean (which you should because it covers 71% of the world and contains 97% Earth's water) then you should care about your health and the health of your family and loved ones.  

Keeping plastics out of the ocean is a must!  So please do your part.

Here is a great illustration of the negative relationship plastic has with the ocean.
Provided by OneWorldOneOcean

 

For more reading on this topic, check out this great article from National Geographic!