Researchers from Imperial College London and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have concluded that seabirds regularly ingest plastic, and that this toxic ingredient is increasingly present in their diet.
The trend is unstoppable: while in 1960 less than 5% of the stomachs of albatrosses, shearwaters, penguins and other ocean dwellers harbored plastic fragments, in 2010 the percentage rose to 80%. The authors of the study, published in the journal PNAS , estimate that by 2050, this problem will affect 99% of seabirds, which peck at bags, bottle caps or synthetic fibers by mistaking them for food. The effects of ingesting these wastes range from digestive obstruction and weight loss to the death of the animal.
According to expert data, up to 90% of marine species have ever eaten plastic today. The greatest impact is recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, in a strip that encompasses the southern waters of Australia, South Africa and South America. This is the habitat, for example, of penguins and albatrosses.
