Author : U.s. Environmental Protection Agency
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781717132116
Total Pages : 50 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (321 download)
Book Synopsis State of the Science White Paper a Summary of Literature on the Chemical Toxicity of Plastics Pollution to Aquatic Life and Aquatic-Dependent Wildlife by : U.s. Environmental Protection Agency
Download or read book State of the Science White Paper a Summary of Literature on the Chemical Toxicity of Plastics Pollution to Aquatic Life and Aquatic-Dependent Wildlife written by U.s. Environmental Protection Agency and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-04-18 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this report is to synthesize the state of the science on the potential chemical toxicity of ingested plastic and associated chemicals on aquatic organisms and aquatic-dependent wildlife. The focus of this document is primarily on marine systems, with data provided on the Great Lakes and other freshwater systems, where available. Since mass-production of plastics began in the 1940s and 1950s, the amount of plastic debris entering marine and freshwater ecosystems has increased by several orders of magnitude (Cole et al., 2011). However, recently the accumulation and potential impacts of plastic pollution has been recognized as an emerging environmental issue (GESAMP 2015; UNEP 2016). Recent estimates suggest that 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste entered the global marine environment in 2010 (Jambeck et al., 2015). Plastics, including bags, packing materials, water bottles, and fishing line and their breakdown products are now found throughout marine ecosystems and in the Great Lakes and other freshwater ecosystems, including near urban and remote beaches, in the open ocean, in sediments, within the water column, and in Arctic Sea ice (Derraik, 2002; Law & Thompson 2014; Eerkes-Medrano et al., 2015). Plastic particles are generally the most abundant type of debris encountered in the marine environment with estimates suggesting that plastics comprise between 60% and 80% of total marine debris (Derraik, 2002).