Humans ingesting micro plastics due to ocean pollution - expert

COLOMBO (News1st): A marine researcher has stressed the need to control the usage of plastics as it directly affects marine life and subsequently impacts humans. "We are using way too much than we need and if we can reduce that and look at alternatives towards that then we can at least negate the impact," Nishan Perera, a marine researcher told News 1st. Sri Lanka had imposed regulations to control polythene on multiple occasions, but experts believe it has not been successful due to pressure from plastic manufacturers and retailers. Bags, bottles, and sachets manufactured using plastic, and discarded fishing gear flow into water bodies and gradually break down into microplastics that are consumed by fish, Perera points out. "We are facing increasing evidence that microplastics are within the tissues of marine organisms including fish that we consume," he says.  "We are potentially ingesting microplastic particles in ourselves". Microplastic contamination has contributed to a nearly 80 percent depletion in fish stocks, a survey carried out by the National Aquatic Resources Agency and supported by Norway's Institue of Marine Research showed.