Now we find ourselves facing a new issue at hand. Polluted waters are one crucial issue, but it becomes even more detrimental for our lives when we could see and be living proof of the effects of it. Not only will it affect our lives but it could introduce all sorts of new diseases spearheaded by residues of plastic fibres. That’s right.
Over the last few years, there has been a build-up of talk about such large amounts of plastic uncovered in our waters. However, we have never paid much attention to the introduced factor of its residues. Many environmentalists are pointing out the new threat that humans and other living organisms face when it comes to these little threads. It can reportedly be ingested and inhaled by humans alike. The worst part of this seems to be that we as a society are unsure of the causes of these strands if they are to enter into our systems.
About a year ago, an article was written by an author for The Guardian put out an interesting article outlining the dangers that we are starting to experience with special regards to our water. They stated to have found 83% of samples contaminated with some fibres. What seems to be more profound is that this percentage is not linked to a specific region of the world but is instead a collective change that we are seeing and experiencing around the world.
With an issue similar to the problem of mercury poisoning in seafood, people are shocked by this predicament and are unsure of what to do. Since a dilemma like this one has not been out on the forefront, it is difficult to jump to any conclusions. Novel studies in developed European countries like Germany are trying to find the extent to which this battle with fibres has gone. To their surprise, traces found in sweeteners like honey and sugar as well as all beer brands tested support the never-ending race between humanity and evidence of plastics. However, it doesn’t seem to be solely the plastics that can be put to blame here.
An article published by Evening Standard a couple of months ago introduced the concept of clothing being another factor in the fight for human health and well being. Since small plastics fabricate most of our clothing, this too is another contributory constituent. Not to seriously scare any of you in any manner, but fibres have been located in pulmonary tissue which means that they are capable of penetrating through even specific kinds of lung tissue: quite a scary thought. Due to their little composure, it would be tough to have them removed at water treatment plants as the threads would float in the water and not be separated.
Now the most obvious solution to a large scale issue like this one would be to set up generously funded projects to rid of all this unnecessary plastic. Unfortunately, it seems like no matter how much of our time we devote to a possible cleanup pilot project, the roots will be untouchable. Only because it seems like this damage has been ongoing for years rather than something that has recently shown up. But, we should mention that efforts are being made, with Canada pushing for more talks about the issue of microplastics and the plastic clean up; however, it still seems like we will need more. But will filters ever be enough? I guess only time will tell.