Analysis of chicks that have eaten plastic reveals insidious health impacts, including cell rupture and decay in stomach lining
Ingesting plastic causes brain damage in seabirds similar to Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has revealed. Plastic pollution has emerged in recent decades as a growing environmental and health concern.
Plastic production, which has sharply increased over the last 70 years, generates around 360 million metric tons of waste annually. The issue of plastic pollution has gained increasing attention and has sparked anger among scientists and environmental activists, with waste levels expected to double by 2040.
Blood tests of a group of migratory birds that had mistakenly been fed plastic waste by their parents show that it causes symptom-free damage to the chicks, including stomach lining decay, cell rupture, and neurodegeneration, according to new research published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday.
Researchers from the University of Tasmania conducted the analysis, focusing on young sable shearwaters, which commonly travel between Australia’s Lord Howe Island and Japan and spend around 90 days in burrows before making their first journey. The research indicated that plastic pollution had left the young birds with serious health issues, affecting their stomach, liver, kidneys, and brain.
The study was aimed at assessing the health conditions of “birds that have consumed plastic but look visibly healthy,” according to Alix de Jersey, a PhD student at the University of Tasmania’s School of Medicine, as cited by The Guardian.
De Jersey, who led the study, specified that protein patterns found in blood tests were “strikingly similar” to those in people with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, adding that “it’s almost equivalent to a small child having Alzheimer’s.”
Alzheimer’s, which causes the brain to shrink and its cells to gradually die, is the most common form of dementia. It is characterized by a decline in cognitive function, behavior, and social skills.
The researchers also said that young birds are able to vomit up some of the plastic before they migrate, but stressed that it was unlikely that all birds could clear it due to the sheer quantity. The examined chicks had their stomachs pumped, meaning they were able to start their migrations to without plastic waste inside.
