Don’t f lush contact lenses down the loo!

Marine life put in danger as plastic breaks down

CONTACT lenses are threatening marine life because they can turn into harmful microplastics, scientists are warning.

Approximately 4.2million Britons wear contact lenses, including nearly one in ten of those aged 15 to 64.

But the lenses become plastic litter when flushed down the toilet or washed down the sink.

US chemists found that five polymers used in the lenses lose their structural strength when exposed to common microbes found in water treatment plants. They say this could break them down into microplastics that make their way into the sea to be swallowed by fish, which mistake them for food.

This, in turn, has led to fears that the human food chain could be contaminated.

The Scottish Daily Mail has campaigned against plastic waste for a decade, leading to a ban on the plastic microbeads used in face scrubs, toothpaste and shower gels. Last year, we launched the successful Banish the Bottles campaign, which sought to introduce a system to tackle the scourge of discarded plastic. The Scottish Government soon committed to introducing a deposit return scheme.

But nationwide research in the US found up to one in five people still flush contact lenses down the sink or toilet.

Dr Rolf Haden, from Arizona State University, who co-authored the study, said: ‘I had worn glasses and contact lenses for most of my adult life. But I started to wonthe der, has anyone done research on what happens to these plastic lenses?’

Researchers exposed five polymers used in daily disposable lenses to anaerobic and aerobic micro-organisms found in water treatment plants.

The results show the lens surfaces became weakened.

Varun Kelkar, from the university’s Biodesign Institute, said: ‘We found there were noticeable changes in the bonds of the contact lenses after long-term treatment with the plant’s microbes. When