Traces of plastic were found in the stomachs of fish in Bangladesh. A serious threat to the local people who eat fish
Traces of plastic were found in the stomachs of fish in Bangladesh. A serious threat, considering that fish is one of the main foods of the Bengali diet.
A study conducted by the Department of Environmental Sciences at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, found that the majority of fish sold at local markets for human consumption contains microplastics - 15 species of native fish caught by local fishermen off the coast. Bengali coasts. The researchers performed sample analyzes on 48 fish belonging to 18 different species: of these 83% were found to be contaminated by microplastics. The fish tested were purchased from two food markets (Savar and Ashulia) near the city of Dhaka, and were allegedly caught in the fresh waters of the country's rivers, canals and ponds.
(Read also: Microplastics: Long-term ingestion damages fish growth and reproduction)
Unfortunately, it is not only the larger fish that ingest the microplastics, but also the smaller ones. Furthermore, it emerged from the findings that the presence of microplastics is greater in fish living in deeper waters than in those living in shallower waters. This is because plastic particles tend to accumulate on the seabed due to their mass, and often end up being mistaken by fish for plankton and ingested.
Some fish species analyzed by researchers (Credits: ResearchGate)
The particles, in fact, have been found mostly in the stomach and digestive tract of animals, but it is not excluded that they can also be found in other parts of the fish body, such as muscles, skin and liver - as evidenced by other studies. When fish ingest microplastics, they show clear symptoms of chemical poisoning (such as bisphenol-A, phthalate, phthalate ester, polyvinyl chloride) which can even lead to the death of the animals. By feeding on these fish bought at the market, populations living in Bengali villages come into contact with microplastics, with serious consequences for their health - such as the onset of cancer and other diseases.
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Fonte: ResearchGate
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