People who eat seafood may be also eating tiny pieces plastic. The small pieces plastic are called microplastics. They are tiny pieces plastic the waste and garbage that are the seas and oceans. They are usually less than a millimeter wide. They are becoming more and more common seafood such as oysters and mussels as well as other kinds of shellfish. Scientists say there are more than five trillion pieces microplastic our oceans. More and more are being added every day. Professor Richard Thompson, a marine biologist Exeter University, said: "Hundreds of marine organisms encounter plastic the sea surface or the water…and many those encounters are harmful if not fatal."
Researchers the University Ghent in Belgium conducted a study microplastics and marine life. They believe people eat to 11,000 pieces plastic in their food each year. The researchers said that only around 60 these pieces stay in our body and the rest will disappear the toilet. Sixty pieces of microplastic may not seem a lot but it will build up time. They could eventually be bad our health. Things are likely to get worse. The researchers added that the end the century, seafood eaters could consume as many as 780,000 pieces of plastic a year. That is likely to cause many health problems. Scientists say we need to recycle more and find alternatives plastic.
