Small may be dangerous

Further evidence emerged last month on the scale of small plastic particulates in the environment with contamination recorded in tens of thousands of organisms and more than 100 species. As well as the breaking down of larger objects, many cosmetic and cleansing products contain plastic microbeads and clothing releases plastic microfibres during washing. A recent study of mussels and oysters concluded that the average European shellfish consumer has an uptake of 6400 small plastics particles per year.