Toxic plastic waste

Studies suggest billions of microscopic plastic fragments drifting underwater are concentrating pollutants like DDT, BBC News reports.

Most attention has focused on dangers that visible items of plastic waste pose to seabirds and other wildlife. But researchers are warning that the risk of hidden contamination could be more serious, the news source wrote.

Dr Richard Thompson of the University of Plymouth has investigated how plastic degrades in the water and how tiny marine organisms, such as barnacles and sand-hoppers, respond. He told the BBC: "We know that plastics in the marine environment will accumulate and concentrate toxic chemicals from the surrounding seawater and you can get concentrations several thousand times greater than in the surrounding water on the surface of the plastic.

"Now there's the potential for those chemicals to be released to those marine organisms if they then eat the plastic."