Oceans taken over by plastic

LONDON: The world’s oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050, a campaign group says.

An estimated 8 million tons of plastic end up in the sea each year – equivalent to one rubbish truck full of bags, bottles, toys and other plastic waste a minute.

If no action is taken, the figure will rise fourfold by the middle of the century, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation warns in a report on the “plastic economy”.

The charity set up by the around-the-world sailor says: “The ocean is expected to contain 1 ton of plastic for every 3 tons of fish by 2025 and by 2050, more plastic than fish.”

The figure is highlighted in a dossier on the health risks of plastic compiled by Surfing Medicine International, a coalition of 1 000 doctors and scientists, and the Plastic Soup Foundation, a Dutch charity campaigning to ban the use of microbeads in cosmetics.

It says growing numbers of doctors and scientists are concerned about what the “indiscriminate production and consumption” of plastic is doing to our bodies.

It questions whether illnesses from cancer and diabetes to fertility problems and birth defects are being fuelled by chemicals in plastic, including microbeads.

They’re linked to serious health risks