Revealed: the toxic beads in your food

PLASTIC particles are found in a third of the fish caught off Britain, a major study reveals today. It found widespread contamination of cod, haddock, mackerel and shellfish by microbeads used in shower gels, toothpastes and beauty products.

Plastic fragments and residues were also detected in 83 per cent of UK-caught scampi, as well as in tuna, mullet, mussels and oysters.

It is thought the fish – many of which reach the human food chain – are feeding on plastics mixed in among plankton. Campaigners warn the microbeads are a magnet for pesticide residues and industrial chemicals that jeopardise human health. Greenpeace, which commissioned the marine research, said oceans were at risk.

‘An estimated 8 million tons of plastic enters our ocean every year, and whether it is in the form of microbeads or throwaway plastic packaging, the science shows us that it’s a toxic time-bomb,’ a spokesman added.

The Daily Mail yesterday launched a campaign calling for action on the industrial use of microbeads. They are being

phased out over the next few years on a voluntary basis by cosmetic firms but the ‘Ban the Beads’ campaign is demanding an immediate UK embargo.

Yesterday this won the support of MPs, MEPs, academics and environment campaigners, as well as leading sport and showbusiness figures. Pressure is now mounting on Theresa May to take unilateral action to outlaw microbeads while the European Commission drags its feet. Today’s Greenpeace report says:

36.5 per cent of fish caught by trawler in the English Channel, including cod, haddock and mackerel, contained synthetic polymers;

83 per cent of Norway lobsters – often sold as scampi in Britain – contained microplastic debris;

40 per cent of the plastics found in North Sea and Baltic fish were polyethylenes, which are used in microbeads;

A Portuguese study found microplastics in 20 per cent of 263 commercially-caught fish;

Analysis of 121 fish caught in the Mediterranean, including tuna and swordfish, found plastic debris in 18 per cent;

A field study collecting fish in the North Pacific found 35 per cent contained plastic fragments.

Researchers at the School of Marine Science and Engineering, Plymouth University, said the English Channel findings were most likely the result of what the fish were eating. Last week research by Australia’s RMIT University and China’s Hainan University showed that up to 12.5 per cent of the chemical pollutants on microbeads passed into the fish that eat them.

The pollutants range from pesticides like DDT to phthalates and fire retardants.