Fish likes plastic and this may be not good for us

[Jaga]

As you bite down into a delicious piece of fish, you probably don’t think about what the fish itself ate — but perhaps you should. More than 50 species of fish have been found to consume plastic trash at sea. This is bad news, not only for fish but potentially also for humans who rely on fish for sustenance.

Fish don’t usually die as a direct result of feeding on the enormous quantities of plastic trash floating in the oceans. But that doesn’t mean it’s not harmful for them. Some negative effects that scientists have discovered when fish consume plastic include reduced activity rates and weakened schooling behavior, as well as compromised liver function.
...

For example, colleagues at the University of California at Davis and I showed in a recent study that plastic debris may smell attractive to marine organisms.
...
Olfaction (smell) is a very important sense for marine animals, including fish. Sharks can smell minute quantities of blood over long distances, which helps them find prey. And scientists believe that salmon’s sense of smell helps them navigate up rivers to spawn in the specific tributaries where they were born...We tested the idea that plastic debris might smell attractive to the northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), a common schooling fish found off the west coast of North America

[kaima]

Along the line of plastics being recycled through the food chain, I have long wondered about human absorption of plastic compounds through our containers and piping. When plastic piping first came out in the 1970's I remember accepting it as a waste water piping but sticking with copper as a water supply line.

All this - and the passing of decades - has led me to loosen up and reuse plastic as microwave bowls. On the other hand I avoid nalgene water bottles and re-use the heavier plastic bottles sold with fruit juice or sport drinks. They are lighter, more flexible, and more versatile in my mind - and cheaply replaceable while providing a feel-good about 'recycling', actually reuse.

Still, I have not searched for and haven't been exposed to scientific papers defining what compounds from plastics imitate human chemicals, hormones and such, and which molecules are indicated to be absorbed by us. I do not bother reading the "be afraid of everything" press that we can find on most any topic.

Now if Germans have found that natural beer contains chemicals that closely resemble estrogen and are suspected at aiding the formation of breasts and beer bellies in men, that what imitation chemicals might we encounter otherwise, given the broad variety of plastics in our society?

[Jaga]

Kai,

my parents had silverware, which was used for special occasions, I never liked it, for me it had metallic taste. Humans consumed lots of metals like lead, and we survived, although barely......

+++Now if Germans have found that natural beer contains chemicals that closely resemble estrogen and are suspected at aiding the formation of breasts and beer bellies in men, that what imitation chemicals might we encounter otherwise, given the broad variety of plastics in our society?++++

yeah, maybe this is a reason for allowing single-gender marriages in Germany?

[karl]

Jaga and Kai

The following confirms the information of fish and Plastic. The following study goes a bit further in to our lives and the water we trust and drink:

time.com/4928759/plastic-fiber-tap-water-study

WATER

Plastic Fibers Are Found in 83% of the World's Tap Water, a New Study Reveals
Kevin Lui

Sep 05, 2017

Virtually all the world's tap water is contaminated by microscopic plastic fibers, a new study claims, raising fresh concerns about the implications of rampant plastic pollution on human and planetary health.
Some 83% of tap water samples collected from over a dozen countries on five continents tested positive for microplastic, according to a study commissioned by data journalism outlet Orb. The specific rate of prevalence in different locales varied, but all tested locations — from Europe to Jakarta and Beirut — saw plastic found in over 70% of tap water samples.

In the U.S., researchers found that 94% of all water samples — including tap water from places like Trump Tower and the Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters — were contaminated by plastic.
These microscopic fragments enter the water system in multiple ways, reports Orb, from synthetic fiber clothing to tire dust and microbeads, as well as the fragmenting of larger pieces of plastic, which for the most part is non-biodegradable.

With about 300 million tons of plastic produced annually, the worsening contamination problem it brings to oceans and rivers has attracted increasing concern.

has previously focused on plastic pollution's effect on marine life, seabirds and the human food chain, but effects of microplastic's presence in the human body remain to be studied."There are certain commons that connect us all to each other, air, water, soil, and what we have universally found time and time again is if you contaminate any of those commons, it gets in everything," Sherri Mason, an expert on plastic pollution at the State University of New York in Freedonia, told Orb.