“That’s the most shocking part. We have microplastics everywhere we go — the Whitsundays, the Pacific, everywhere.”
What are microplastics?
Scientists have found microplastics in our blood and even the placenta.
Trawling Australia’s iconic Sydney Harbour
In a haul from a recent outing, she detected what she believed to be tiny plastic particles in just seconds.
Khay Fong and her team found microplastics in every sample collected from the Sydney Harbour
The samples have been taken back to a lab for testing, and while the results are still being analysed, Fong said one thing is for certain.
“It’s a concentration that’s akin to the Mediterranean which is one of the most polluted places in the world, mainly because it’s one of the most populated.”
Three Olympic-size swimming pools worth of microplastics
“We found plastics at all of these sites,” lead researcher Elvis Okoffo from the University of Queensland’s Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences said.
Marine plastic pollution
He said the samples were taken back to a lab to be analysed, and once the data was extrapolated, the researchers were able to make a startling estimation.
“That actually tells us there is a direct link between the amount of plastics we consume in Australia and the amount that’s being washed into the environment.”
What are the risks of microplastics?
“We definitely know we’re exposed every day. We know that we are breathing in plastics every day, and we know that we’re ingesting them through food and water,” Cassandra Rauert, a senior research fellow also based at the University of Queensland’s Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, said.
Brisbane’s Forest Lake last year ranked high on a global list of freshwater lakes with microplastic pollution problems. Source: AAP / David Hamilton
Rauert is leading a study into the risks of human exposure to microplastics. Her team is seeking to establish whether they pass through our bodies, or whether they can enter our bloodstream and organs.
“We’re still at the very early stages yet, so we can’t really draw any conclusions at this point,” she said. “[But] we’re developing new instrumental methods that can really help to fill this knowledge gap and answer these questions.”
Can we reduce our exposure?
“So where it’s appropriate to change over to, say, a cotton shirt instead of a polyester shirt,” she said.
Ways to limit exposure to microplastics
The second major source is tyre wear, whereby small pieces of plastic detach from car tyres when they are being driven.
“Use a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water, try and avoid single-use plastics. All those small things can make a big difference.”
Source Agencies
