Plastic rain a new health threat

Plastic rain is the new acid rain, the head of The Wildlife Trusts has said, as microplastics from the sea are polluting our soil. Tiny particles of plastic, from bottles and other waste, are degrading to microplastics in the oceans and then rising into clouds as water vapour that later falls as rain. A study in the journal Science found that over 14 months, more than 1000 tonnes of microplastic particles fell into 11 protected areas in the western US each year, the equivalent of 120 million plastic water bottles. Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said that the world was not yet taking the plastics crisis seriously, but if we did not stop using the material we would see implications for human health.