Beware of fish that eat microplastics – you may end up getting a double serve

Is it dangerous to eat fish that eat microplastics? Researchers in Germany say not all fish eat them. But of those that do, it’s unclear whether the plastics get into the fish’s bloodstream – and then ours.

In the ocean, plastic trash eventually breaks down into tiny pieces. Many of these, lighter than water, float on the sea’s surface. Rays of sunlight and continued battering of waves then break them down into even more miniscule pieces – until some of them end up inside the stomachs of micro-organisms, sea birds, oceanic mammals or fish.

Biologists at the Alfred Wegener Institute’s Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have now investigated just how many of these particles remain in the stomachs of certain fish. Read More…

Beware of fish that eat microplastics – you may end up getting a double serve