In oceans, plastics break up to pose new toxic threat
Washington: Environmentalists have long denounced plastic as a pollutant that does not break down. A new study indicates that in the oceans, plastic does decompose with surprising speed, but says that is not a good thing either.
Thousands of tons of plastic debris wind up in the oceans every year, some of it washing up on coasts, some being swirled by currents into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Plastics in daily use are generally assumed to be quite stable, said Katsuhiko Saido, a chemist at Nihon University, Chiba, Japan.
We found that plastic in the ocean actually decomposes as it is exposed to the rain and sun and other environmental conditions, giving rise to yet another source of global contamination that will continue into the future, said Saido.
Saido reported that the decomposing plastics release potentially toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A and PS oligomer, which can disrupt the functioning of hormones in animals. AP