“This study is the first to look in depth at what microplastics do to stomach tissues. It has been shown that they can cause serious damage to the digestive system of birds.” In an article from the Natural History Museum, London Co-author of Annealing Studio Alex Bond.
The scientist also noted that although the disease has so far only been described in seabirds, it may just be the tip of the iceberg.
Bond also noted that the disease could not be identified with the naked eye. He noted that birds affected by the disease may appear healthy at first glance, but inside their bodies this may not be the case, he points out. Watchman.
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Report published in Hazardous Materials Magazines (Journal of Hazardous Substances) reports that plastic pollution has become so widespread that scars appear in different age groups of birds. Even young adults suffer from this disease, and scientists hypothesize that it is because their parents fed them food containing plastic.
Frequent ingestion of its tiny parts leads to chronic inflammation of the digestive tract, which over time leads to scarring and deformation of the tissues, affecting how the birds digest food, their growth, and their chances of survival. Natural materials such as pumice stone do not cause these problems for birds.
They mistake plastic for food
Researchers focused on light petrels that live on Australia’s Lord Howe Island in the South Pacific and the relationship between the amount of plastic ingested and the condition of the first part of the bird’s stomach, the proventriculus. They found that the more plastic the birds ingested, the more tissue scarred.
Not only do birds consume food contaminated with plastic, but they also mix pieces of plastic with it and actually eat it knowingly.
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Plastering can lead to gradual damage to the glands in the lining and as a result birds can be more susceptible to infections and parasitic diseases and their ability to digest food and absorb certain vitamins may be affected.
Although plasticine is known to be a disease of the gastrointestinal tract, according to scientists, there are indications that it can also affect other parts of the body, such as the lungs. It can also have an impact on people’s health.
The name plasticine was deliberately given to the disease to make clear that it is caused by plastic found in the birds’ natural environment.
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