A new study the University of South Florida and Eckerd College is revealing what pollutants are in Tampa Bay waters. The 14-month study found a staggering number of microplastics in local waters.
Approximately four billion particles of microplastics are floating around in Tampa Bay. That means on average, there is one particle of microplastic in every liter of water.
To conduct the study, researchers from USF and Eckerd College took samples from 24 sites around Tampa Bay with the help of Hillsborough County’s Environmental Protection Commission.
Microplastics are small pieces of degraded man-made materials such as threads of fabric, plastic bags, or bottles that are no larger than 1/8 of an inch.
The most common pollutant found in Tampa Bay is fabric.
Threads from synthetic fabrics, which travel through wastewater after a cycle through the washing machine, are too tiny to be caught by filters and eventually get released into the bay.
David Hastings served as the principal investigator of the study. On microplastics in Tampa Bay waters, Hastings said, “We don’t really know yet the extent or implications to wildlife and people are... We know that lots of living things filter out what gets into the water. What they want is plankton, and what they’ll end up with is plastic, which carries toxins which can be really harmful.”
The primary concern with human health in regards to microplastics regards the different toxic and carcinogenic chemicals used to make these plastics and what they carry. It has also been thought that microplastics can act as a vessel for pathogens as well as heavy metals. More specifically, pregnant women are particularly in danger of causing birth defects to male infants such as anogenital distance, penile width, and testicular descent.
This could be due to the fact that plastic in the human body replicates the hormone estrogen, which is commonly associated with female reproductive development.
“When I used to think about plastic, I used to think of it as an aesthetic concern, but what this research shows is that it’s like a plastic smog and it’s a tremendous concern to all of us,” Hastings continued.