Plastics cause health problems

The proposal on plastics was praised by welfare activists in the Sultanate.

Jaison Mathai, founder of the animal welfare organisation Tiger By The Tail, noted, “This is a good move, because sometimes we unknowingly eat plastic, and this then causes a lot of health problems we cannot detect, including cancer and lung ailments. We humans know the dangers of plastic consumption, but animals do not know this, and when strays eat from dustbins, given the way in which we throw out our waste, there is a very good possibility they are eating plastic without knowing it.

X-rays

“We can only detect these things in animals when we take them for X-rays to diagnose their health, but even then the machines do not identify ingested plastic,” added Mathai.

“It is worse if they eat little pieces of plastic, because this causes wounds on the inside, and they bleed internally and don’t know how to heal themselves, and ultimately die a terrible death.”

He added, “I would advise all people in Oman to carry cloth or cotton bags when they go to supermarkets and shops, and avoid picking up plastic bags from stores. We at TBTT also advocate a cleaner environment, and even distributed jute bags to the public to celebrate our anniversary last year. The Government of Oman is implementing very strong environmental policies and we need to respect that.”