Friday June 17, 2022
ABC 7 —
Scientists are worried two forms of ocean pollution are joining together to form a sort of super pollution.
Some of them are sounding the alarm now to try to stop the problem from getting worse.
For years, environmental groups have warned of the dangers from microplastics reaching San Francisco Bay.
Microscopic fragments often break off from the kinds of plastic trash found washing up on beaches.
Peter Roopnarine with the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco said taken together, plastics and microplastics present a significant threat to marine life and the coastal environment.
“We’re finding them everywhere. We’re finding them in high concentrations in the open ocean,” Roopnarine said.
But now, researchers believe plastics are combining with a second substance, oil, to create a different form of pollution.