Marine microplastics problem in N.L.: MUN scientist

A scientist based at Memorial University says there are far more microplasticsin the waters around Newfoundland and Labrador than previously thought, and she's raising the alarm about what that means for both the environment, and human behaviour in the province.

"We've found plastics everywhere we've looked," said Max Liboiron, an assistant professor andthe headof MUN'sCivic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR).

• MUN research encouraging citizen scientists to collect data on plastic in oceans, ponds and rivers

That contradicts earlier thoughts on the subject, that the waters surrounding the province were relatively plastic-free amindsetLiboironsaidhas been perpetuated by a lack of debris washing up on shore.

Butskimming the surface andinvestigating the innards of fish and seabirdshas turned up the proof.

And what's more a lot of the trash is local.

"Most of the plastics in Newfoundlandcome from Newfoundland," Liboiron told CBC's Here and Now.

"They're pretty intact when we find them.If you put plasticsout in the ocean they shred up pretty fast," she said, adding she's seen a variety of local plastics,from fishing gear to kitchen waste to plastic bags,inside animals' digestive systems.

Push for a plastic bag ban?

Liboiron's research comes as the conversation and controversy over banning plastic bagsramps up. City councillors in both St. John's and Corner Brook have been pushing for an end to the bags, and a similar ban on Fogo Island has reportedly met with success, although a business group in the province has spoken out against any potential ban.

• Time to part ways with plastic, St. John's city councillor says

• Corner Brook plastic bag ban 'a no-brainer,' petition says

Liboiron supportsa ban, saying it's necessary from an environmental perspective.

"It stops the flow of plastics from coming into the ocean, then concentrating on the plastics that are already there. Otherwise its like bailing out a boat before you've plugged the hole," she said, adding even when bags are sent to the landfill, it's easy for them to find their way to open water.

"We're trying to keep plastics from coming into the ocean. Once they're in the ocean there's very little you can do."

The plastic pee test

It can take 10,000 years for plastic to break down, said Liboiron, and that's just an educated guess.

"You put those plasticsin a vibrating jar of uric acid the same acid as pee you vibrate it very very fast under very bright lights, and then you measure the weakening of the bonds.And then by math you extrapolate how weak those bonds would have to get for them to break apart," she said, explaining the methodology behind those estimates.

"[But]most plastics, especially when they're in theocean,it's cold, it's dark, they're not going to break down, period.So they're going to outlast our species."

Added to that long life is the harmful nature of the chemicals within plastic.

"When an animal eats [plastics], the chemicals go into its tissues, andit accumulates in the animal.But it biomagnifies up the food web,so those chemicals get concentrated the higher up the food web that you are. And humans are pretty near the top," she said.

Liboiron said those same microplastics then go on to cause a number of human health problems, with plastics correlated to rising obesity, decreasing male fertility and developmental issues: all reasons to put down the plastic bag.