Why plasticity is bad: How microplastics can get into the ocean and into the sea- and air-like habitats of fish and crustaceans

You may ask, “It’s just plastic!” You know, if you accidentally eat a shirt button, it will pass through you, right? But when it’s broken down into microscopic fibers, spherules, and shards, it behaves very differently. These particles are toxic and cause cancer. Their rough surfaces snag other toxins and microbes, transporting them to new environments and into bodies. Small creatures like plankton and insects mistake microplastics for food, so they get less nutrition, grow less, reproduce less, and sicken more easily, with effects that can cascade all the way up the food chain. Microplastics have been proven to mess with genes and systems in animals. Plastic microfibers can get deep into lungs, causing a kind of damage similar to that from asbestos.

The fulmar and the shearwater are masters of the sea and air, gliding above the waves and into the water to catch fish, squid, and crustaceans. Because humans have so completely ruined the ocean with microplastics, their diet now includes a lot of synthetic poison.