Breaking Plastics leaching harmful Chemicals into the Ocean

Several noxious plastic byproducts, including BPA and a substance called styrene trimer, have been detected in small quantities in the ocean

Toxic Soup: Plastics Could Be Leaching Chemicals Into Ocean
Toxic chemicals from decomposing plastics may be leaching into the sea and harming marine ecosystems

Contrary to the commonly held belief that plastic takes 500 to 1,000 years to decompose, researchers now report that some types of plastic begin to break down in the ocean within one year, releasing potentially toxic bisphenol A (BPA) and other chemicals into the water.

This World Ocean Day, June 08th, let’s remember that BPA has harmful effect not only on our health but on marine ecosystems too. BPA is an estrogen-like endocrine-disrupting chemicals very similar to DES Diethylstilbestrol DES Google+ Page icon

Read Toxic Soup: Plastics Could Be Leaching Chemicals Into Ocean
by Hadley Leggett, Wired Science, Aug 2009

4 thoughts on “Breaking Plastics leaching harmful Chemicals into the Ocean”

  1. Plastic does break down when exposed to sunlight.. but the toxicity is nowhere near what ha been put into the ocean through the dumping of nuclear waste.
    dongrgic

  2. There are other problems that generate these wastes: the amount of marine animals die from these materials in the thousands per year, only in the Pacific. where plastic island grows every day.
    Jose

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