The ocean is called for by biodegradable plastic

The ocean called for help by billions of kilograms of plastic floated on the surface of the sea, there was a material that was difficult to decompose and decomposed at a rapid rate and released many toxic substances into the sea.

In the first study of the billions of kilograms of plastic that floated on the surface of the sea (often garbage is swept from the shore to the ocean) for years, scientists have found floating materials. The sound of this disintegration is decomposed at a surprisingly fast rate and releases many toxic substances into seawater.

Announcing at the 238th National Conference of the American Chemical Society, researchers talked about their 'very strange ' finding . They still argue that plastic in the ocean is not so much, very rare, that some marine creature accidentally eats or is trapped in plastic objects.

A Japanese boy is pointing up the full Styrofoam waste on the beach.(Photo: Katsuhiko Saido)

Researcher in charge of the group, PhD. Katsuhiko Saido recounted: " The plastic used in everyday life is generally considered to be very durable. Yet we found that in the middle of the ocean they were degraded when exposed to the sun, rain and other environmental conditions. Since then, it has become a source of global pollution and continues to increase in the future . '

He said that polymers begin to degrade within a year, releasing substances that can be detected at concentrations of about parts per million. These chemicals break down on the ocean surface and inside the bodies of marine animals. The amount of plastic floating up and down the ocean so decomposition products become a matter of concern.

Every year in Japan alone there are about 150,000 tons of waste plastic, most notably Styrofoam (ie polistiren) is washed away to the sea. They were hit and pushed away very far, anywhere on the sea.

The sea called ' The Big Pacific Landfill ' between California and Hawaii is twice as wide as Texas, mostly floating plastic.

Saido, a chemist, a School of Pharmacy, at Nihon Chiba University, Japan, said his research team has found that when plastics degrade, they often release into seawater of bisphenol A (BPA) very toxic. and polistiren oligomes, polluting the sea.

The sea of ​​Vietnam is no less than the sea of ​​plastic pollution.(Photo: VNN)

Plastics do not decompose when marine animals fail to eat, so they may not be toxic to them. However, they are poisoned when they absorb chemicals decomposed by plastics and into the ocean. It is these substances that affect their lives. Polistiren's BPA and oligome substances can disrupt hormones and seriously affect the fertility of marine animals.

Some studies have shown that despite very low levels of exposure to BPA, containers or other types of packages release harmful effects on the health of organisms .

Saido presented a new method that he used to simulate low-temperature plastic disintegration, such as ocean temperatures.

This process includes experiments such as modeling room-temperature plastic disintegration, separating the heat from the plastic, using a liquid to extract the polysiren's BPA and oligomer.

He says the Styrofoam foam plastic is easily broken by ocean waves.

The team also reported that they did not see the three most toxic substances (which Styrofoam could produce) in nature. It is monomers of stiren (MS), stirring dime (DS) and stiren trime (TS) that everyone knows that MS definitely causes cancer, DS and TS are suspected of causing cancer.

TS will generate SM and DS when thermal decomposition. But the trime itself also threatens the lives of creatures.