Scientists have made an discovery about what kinds of are most harmful to seabirds. A study led by Australia's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies discovered that balloons were the kind of plastic for seabirds. The research said balloons were 32 times more to kill seabirds than hard plastics. They found that while balloons and other soft plastics accounted for only 5 per cent of plastics ingested, they were for more than 40 per cent of deaths among seabirds. Lead Lauren Roman said: "Hard plastic fragments may pass through the , but soft plastics are more likely to become compacted and cause fatal ."
The study examined 1,733 dead seabirds and found that more than a of the deaths were attributed to eating plastic. Ms Roman explained that plastic is becoming an threat to seabirds. She said: "Marine debris is now a recognized threat....We suggest that reducing the of balloons and balloon fragments in the ocean would reduce seabird mortalities." LiveScience.com said: "With an estimated 280,000 tons of floating debris worldwide, about half of all seabird are thought to ingest plastic on a daily . Birds are especially likely to swallow dangerous balloons because they closely resemble , according to the study."
