Plastic nanoparticles in seawater can have an adverse effect
on sea organisms. Particles measuring about a thirty millionth of a millimetre,
and therefore invisible to the naked eye, are responsible. Mussels that have
been exposed to such particles eat less, and thus grow less well, according to
research carried out by scientists and students at Wageningen University and
IMARES, both part of Wageningen UR. They wrote about their research in the most
recent issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
The presence of ‘plastic soup’ in the oceans is regarded as
a big problem. Tiny plastic particles enter the sea when plastic debris
decomposes.