Plastics and the Health of Our Oceans

The amount of trash floating in our oceans today is staggering. One of the main offenders is plastic. And researchers today are finding unsettling amounts of BPA (bisphenol A) in oceans around the world. BPA, often found in plastics and epoxy resins, is a synthetic compound which can mimic hormones and lead to negative health effects such as developmental disorders and infertility.

"One disturbing possibility is that BPA could bioaccumulate, with animals eating BPA-tainted animals that have eaten BPA-tainted animals, finally reaching high concentrations in top-level ocean predators and the humans who eat them. For that to happen, BPA would have to be stored in fatty tissue, rather than passing quickly through the body." Brandon Keim, Wired. Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/ocean-bpa/#ixzz0lqt7EDVS

It would be very difficult to clean up the entire ocean, but we can certainly limit our use of plastics and stop what we are using from reaching the oceans. Protecting the health of our oceans is equally as important and ultimately connected to protecting our own health.