The Impact of microplastics

The first studies on microparticles found in the sea dates back to the 1970s, but the awareness that even inland waters are not immune to this phenomenon is much more recent. The consequences that plastics present in aquatic environments are different: the ingestion by organisms with the consequent feeling of false satiety leading them not to feed, the bioaccumulation in the trophic chain, the toxicity due to the absorption of polluting substances present in the environment and also for the additives contained in plastic and the transport of alien species travelling with fragments. Studies carried out on marine fauna shows how plastic ingested by fish ends up on our plates.

The risks, therefore, are also present for humans: the pollutants released by microplastics can be ingested and end up in our bodies. These pollutants can interfere with the endocrine system and produce genetic alterations.

Particularly worrying are the high concentrations of agents such as persistent organic pollutants (Pop), so called because they are toxic and resistant to decomposition, among which there are polychlorinated biphenyls (Pcb) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (ddt).