'Microplastics' In The Ocean A Cause For Increasing Concern

Microplastics – microscopic particles of plastic debris – are of increasing concern because of their widespread presence in the oceans and the potential physical and toxicological risks they pose to organisms. This is an example of microplastics pulled from the ocean Credit: Sea Education Association This is the view of two of the world's most eminent authorities on the subject, Professor Kara Lavender Law, of Sea Education Association (Woods Hole, MA), and Professor Richard Thompson of Plymouth University (UK). In an article published today in the journal Science, the two scientists have called for urgent action to "turn off the tap" and divert plastic waste away from the marine environment. Microplastics have now been documented in all five of the ocean's subtropical gyres – and have even been detected in Arctic sea ice – with some of the highest accumulations occurring thousands of miles from land.



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