Plastic pollution spreads throughout the planet and its effects reach multiple species, including humans. Until now, however, there are few studies on the health effects of dispersing synthetic polymers that end up being incorporated into the food chain. An example to repair this deficit is a new study led by experts from Australia and the United Kingdom in which the consequences of ingesting microplastics on the health of wild specimens of the Black-footed Shearwater or Blackish Shearwater have been analyzed.
The research is noteworthy not only for showing the damage caused by the plastics dumped by humans in this species of bird with the scientific name Ardenna carneipes, but also because the authors propose a term to describe this type of condition that will possibly become famous: plasticosis.
“As biota [living things] are increasingly exposed to plastic pollution, it is necessary to closely examine the hidden sublethal impacts of plastic ingestion,” the study authors state in the first part of their summary of findings.
This emerging field of study has been limited to model species in controlled laboratory settings, with little data available for free-living wild organisms. In this sense, the footed shearwater, a bird that accidentally ingests large amounts of plastics (which it mistakes for food), is “a suitable species to examine these impacts in an environmentally relevant way.”
The authors wanted to check, specifically, if the ingestion of microplastics affects the health of these birds. To do this, they analyzed the bodies of 30 chicks in nests on Lord Howe Island (Australia), some 600 km east of the continent.
To test the accuracy of their hypothesis, the authors used a Masson’s trichrome stain (added dye) to document any evidence of plastic-induced fibrosis, using collagen as a marker for scar tissue formation in the proventriculus (stomach) of chicks.
The presence of plastic, from the diet, “was largely associated with widespread scar tissue formation and extensive changes and even loss of tissue structure within the mucosa and submucosa,” the authors of this study note. whose first signatory is Hayley S. Charlton-Howard, a researcher at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at Battery Point (Tasmania, Australia).
Also, even though naturally occurring indigestibles such as pumice are also found in the GI tract, this did not cause similar scarring. This highlights the unique pathological properties of plastics and raises concerns for other species affected by plastic ingestion, concludes the team that also includes Alexander L. Bond, Jack Rivers-Auty and Jennifer L. Lavers.
Alex Bond, in particular, explains that “while these birds may look healthy on the outside, they are not doing well on the inside.” “This study investigates stomach tissue in this way for the first time and shows that plastic consumption can cause serious damage to the digestive system of these birds,” Bond said in a note released by the Natural History Museum in London. Center to which this expert belongs.
“While plasticosis is currently only known in this species, the scale of plastic pollution suggests that this problem may be much more widespread. It could even have impacts on human health,” says Alex Bond. The results of this research have been published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
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