Scientists suggest that the persistent organic pollutants originally contained in the plastic waste.
Scientists from the UK and Australia recorded high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPS) — toxic chemicals in two of the deepest ocean trenches. This is stated in article of researchers published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Biologists have analyzed what chemicals are in the body amphipods (Amphipoda) are crustaceans whose dimensions do not exceed cm. It turned out that in the fatty tissue of amphipods, which live at a depth of 10 thousand meters in the area of the Mariana trench and Kermadec, POPS concentration comparable with their content in marine organisms from Japanese Suruga Bay, one of the most polluted places in the Pacific ocean.
The detected compounds included polychlorinated biphenyls and polybromodiphenyl esters, which are used as dielectric fluids for electrical insulation and flame retardants for fire protection.
The authors suggest that the persistent organic pollutants originally contained in the plastic rubbish that fell into the ocean. They gradually sank to the bottom, where ingested amphipods.
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