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This is a great way to be introduced,
plus they're nice and sweet

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and then we have a variety of oysters,
there is a kumamoto oyster

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These men seem to be enjoying a
delicious plate of oysters

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what they don't know is that they are
also ingesting

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hundreds of microplastic particles

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Seafood from salmon to oysters is a
essential part of people's diets around

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the world
However what many people don't know is

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that they're also eating microplastics
embedded in ocean organisms increasingly

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important threat to our own health
and the health of our environment

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Microplastics are less than five
millimeters in length

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often going undetected by seafood
consumers. For example

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83 percent of prawns tested in the UK had
microplastics in them

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That might make you think twice the next
time you want to enjoy a shrimp cocktail

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It was estimated in 2015 that roughly
eight million tons of plastic

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enter the world's oceans each year but
only one percent is floating at the

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surface in visible form
This means that the majority of plastic

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in the ocean are microplastic
So how did microplastics end up in our

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oceans?
Important contributors to microplastic

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abundance in the ocean
are waste water treatment plants and

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coastal landfills
Many microplastics originate from

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wastewater from homes
which is then transported to wastewater

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treatment plants
A study conducted by Dr Maria Cazor

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found that wastewater treatment plants
had an estimated daily discharge

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of 227 million microplastics
and that the marine concentration of

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microplastics decreased with increasing
distance from these plants

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This evidence demonstrates the
significant contribution of wastewater

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treatment plants
to the presence of microplastics in

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their oceans
Micro plastics are also created through

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the breakdown of consumer plastic
products,

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textiles, manufacturing and cosmetic
remnants

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These materials are then congregated in
coastal landfills

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where this study found microplastics
were in even higher abundance

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than the wastewater treatment plants and
microplastics can flow easily into the

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ocean
Microplastics in our oceans is a

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human-driven issue
as we can see through the significance

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of our wastewater and coastal landfills
as contributors to marine plastic

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pollution
Microplastics now have a large presence

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in the food chain
Microplastic interference in the food

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chain can begin in an organism
as tiny as a zooplankton which commonly

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mistake a plastic particle
for the phytoplankton they consume. From

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there mycoplastics continue to climb up
the food chain

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and accumulate as smaller marine
organisms are consumed by larger ones

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Also, bivalves such as oysters, scallops
and mussels

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also capture microplastics as they
filter water throughout their bodies

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Eventually these microplastics can end
up on your plate

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Currently we lack sufficient safeguards
to prevent microplastic inclusion in our

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diet
Though we absorb less than one percent

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of microplastic particles consumed
that one percent adds up. Gross!

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Why should we care? Microplastics are
severely denigrating marine organisms

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and their habitat
Consumption of microplastics by young

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fish is stunting their growth and
killing them

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Before they reach reproductive age. If
this trend continues

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predator fish could lose their food
source, disrupting the food chain

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Mircoplastics also cause catastrophic
damage to the marine ecosystem

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due to their toxicity. Consumed
microplastics release toxins into the

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consuming sea creature,
causing physiological issues and death

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Toxins include persistent organic
pollutants,

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endocrine disruptor chemicals and other
hydrophobic chemicals from the

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manufacturing process
Microplastics don't just impact the

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health of marine animals and
environments

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People are ingesting microplastics every
day and we don't know the long-term

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health impacts of microplastic
consumption

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This isn't going to be an easy problem
to solve due to how difficult it is to

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remove these tiny particles from the
ocean environment

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and due to microplastics accumulating in
organisms throughout the food chain over

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time
But now is the time to take action. Call

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your representatives,
inform your peers and learn more about

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the dangers of microplastics
It's not just about animals or

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environments in distant lands
it's about the future of our health as

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people

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