Plastic pollution leaves seabirds with brain damage similar to Alzheimer’s, study shows | Plastics

Eating plastic leaves marine bird chicks with brain damage “closer to Alzheimer’s disease”, according to a new study – in addition to increasing evidence of the devastating effect of plastic pollution on marine wildlife.

The young fabric analysis, a migrant bird traveling between the Australian Lord Howe Island and Japan, has found that plastic waste causes damage to marine bird chicks that are not clear to the naked eye, including the dissolution of the stomach lining, and the tear of cells and nervous division.

Dozens of chicks – which spend 90 days in burrows before their first journey – were examined by researchers from the University of Tasmania. Many were wrongly fed by their parents and building high levels of plastic in their stomach.

Blood tests indicated that plastic pollution has left the chicks with severe health problems, which disrupts the stomach, liver, kidneys and brain, according to what he said the study Posted in Science Advances.

“Plastic swallowing in marine birds is not new. We have known that since the 1960s, but a lot of plastic research focuses on birds that already calm down: they are starving, and they wash on the beaches and do not work well. Alex de Jersey, a PhD student from the University of Tesmania Medical College, who led the study:“ We wanted to understand the condition of the birds that consumed plastic but we look healthy but seem healthy Clearly. ”

“[In blood tests]We found the patterns of proteins that were very similar to those in people with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. It is almost equal to a young child with Alzheimer’s disease. These birds really suffer from the effects of plastic, especially on nervous brain health. “

Cuting tools are among the most affected types of birds from plastic pollution. Previous studies I have found more than 400 plastic pieces in one Skerwateer chick, with plastic sometimes represents 5-10 % of total body weight.

While the chicks are able to vomit some plastic before migrating, the researchers said that the huge amount means that it is unlikely that all birds can wipe them. The small birds that were examined in the study pumped their stomachs, which means that they were able to start their migrations to the Sea of ​​Japan without any plastic waste at home.

“It is almost the death penalty for these chicks, which is unfortunate because it seems really decent and healthy. De Jersey said:” Knowing the condition in which their body is before the start of their deportation is extremely difficult to imagine that they will reach the other side. “

I found previous research that Less than 60 multinationals California Responsible for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution, with six responsible for a quarter.

Find more Covering the era of extinction hereHe followed the correspondence of biological diversity Vepi Weston and Patrick Greenfield In the Guardian app for more nature coverage