Microplastics found in freshly fallen Antarctic snow for first time

[GoneFishin]

Microplastics found in freshly fallen Antarctic snow for first time

New Zealand researchers identified tiny plastics, which can be toxic to plants and animals, in 19 snow samples

Microplastics have been found in freshly fallen snow in Antarctica for the first time, which could accelerate snow and ice melting and pose a threat to the health of the continent’s unique ecosystems.

The tiny plastics – smaller than a grain of rice - have previously been found in Antarctic sea ice and surface water but this is the first time it has been reported in fresh snowfall, the researchers say.

More > https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-freshly-fallen-antarctic-snow-for-first-time

 

[Bellbird]

Nowhere is sacred.

 

[Alligatorob]

Microplastics found in freshly fallen Antarctic snow for first time

Probably only because its the first we have looked...

 

[RadishRose]

 

[Just Jeff]

Probably only because its the first we have looked...

Yep.

But then, when did plastics, then micro-plastics from all the different sources/processes

become available ?

Likewise over forty thousand other chemicals harmful to humans, animals, plants and fish and soil ?

 

[Alligatorob]

when did plastics, then micro-plastics from all the different sources/processes

become available ?

Plastics have been around for at least 150 years, but it was not until after WWII that the variety and use of plastics really took off.

History and Future of Plastics​

 

[Bella]

There's no escape from it. Microplastics are in all of us.

 

[spectratg]

There's no escape from it. Microplastics are in all of us.

Yes they are in our bloodstreams and our tissues, and certainly in all other animals on the planet as well. We have already bioengineered our environment, and not in a good way.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Interesting, I wasn’t aware that micro plastics were a form of air pollution.

I wonder how much, if any, is in the air we breathe or if it could contribute to a new form of respiratory disease?

 

[Tish]

@Aunt Bea I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Alligatorob]

Interesting, I wasn’t aware that micro plastics were a form of air pollution.

I wonder how much, if any, is in the air we breathe or if it could contribute to a new form of respiratory disease?

Any thing we use so much of ends up pretty much everywhere. Plastics are no exception.

Your question about health impacts is a good one. Fortunately most plastics are fairly inert chemically, and most adverse impacts we know of are physical rather than chemical. Hopefully that will mean no respiratory disease, but we really don't know yet, only time will tell. It took a long time to understand the adverse impacts of smoking...

Asbestos is also mostly chemically inert, its the physical effects in our lungs that is the problem. Not saying plastics are the same, just that even without much chemical interaction problems can happen.

 

[Just Jeff]

Interesting, I wasn’t aware that micro plastics were a form of air pollution.

I wonder how much, if any, is in the air we breathe or if it could contribute to a new form of respiratory disease?

Air, water, and food, drugs and supplements, and probably in shots also. Pollution daily.

@Aunt Bea I was wondering the same thing.

It can and probably has frequently caused degenerative diseases, respiratory diseases, liver and kidney and brain diseases, stomach and intestinal diseases, bone disorders, mental disorders, hormonal disorders, and so on.... a lot more than ever admitted.

 

[Lee]

It's only a matter of time before the lunar rover finds them on the moon.....sad

 

[Just Jeff]

It's only a matter of time before the lunar rover finds them on the moon.....sad

Space all around the earth is heavily polluted already, for decades. / may already be a lot of plastic debris on the moon/

So many metal and other particles of manmade stuff , and larger debris left there, they have to account for it when putting anything else in orbit.

Man is not good nor kind to the environment anywhere known. Many species, hundreds or thousands, dead and gone. And getting worse every day, faster and faster.

 

[Victor]

The WHO surveyed bottled water and discovered micro plastics in majority of them. Supposedly purified. Ironically plastics were ppromoted in the. 70s as the best alternative to paper