UK to investigate human health impact of microplastics
Chief medical officer for England Prof Dame Sally Davies to carry out study into health impacts of tiny particles of plastic consumed by fish. The government is to conduct an investigation into the impact on human health of microplastic particles found in shellfish and other marine animals. The study by the chief medical officer for England, Prof Dame Sally Davies, is to be carried out as part of a wider, year-long review of the health effects of pollution. The move follows the announcement in September that the government is to ban the use of plastic microbeads in cosmetics and toiletries after the Commons environmental audit committee raised concerns about their effect on the marine environment. In its official response to the committee’s findings, the government acknowledgedthere was “little evidence” available on the impact to human health of microplastics – defined as particles smaller than five millimetres. It said that research had however shown high concentrations could cause physical harm to marine worms and microplastics could transfer along a “simple” food chain – such as from a mussel to a crab.
Posted by admin
on Nov 15 2016. Filed under News at Now.
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