Environmentalist group Greenpeace on Wednesday warned of exposure to and potential health effects arising from plastic that has entered the marine food chain, highlighting the issue of people consuming seafood contaminated by plastic particles.
About 800 tonnes of plastic enters the ocean every year, accounting for 60 to 80 percent of total maritime trash, Greenpeace said, urging the government to deal with the health threat it said plastic-contaminated seafood poses.
After plastic debris has floated in the ocean for a while, it is likely to become smaller “microplastics,” pieces with diameters of less than 5mm, Greenpeace said.
These microplastics enter the marine food chain after they are eaten by marine plankton or fish. Toxic substances in the plastics, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), contaminate fish and shellfish consumed by people, posing health risks, Greenpeace said.
Citing international studies, Greenpeace said that plastic particles have been found in part of the fish catch in the English Channel and sailfish and tuna in the Atlantic Ocean.
Research has also shown that similar substances have been found in brown mussels off the coast of Brazil and blue mussels along the coast of China.
Greenpeace urged the government to begin looking into microplastics in seafood commonly consumed in Taiwan and take action to ensure food safety.
Although there has been no reports of microplastics directly affecting human health, microplastics have been confirmed in seafood, along with their toxic substances, Greenpeace said, adding that more attention has to be paid to the issue.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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