Particles of plastic discovered in areas thought to be clean

THE GUARDIAN , LONDON
Saturday, May 08, 2004,Page 7

Humans are smearing the oceans with plastic, according to British scientists who sifted shorelines to find microscopic fragments of stockings, yoghurt pots, rope, shopping bags and bleach bottles everywhere they looked.

The spread of polymer waste has been reported before: researchers have surveyed beaches on completely uninhabited islands in the Antarctic and found plastic cups, polymer sandals and cordial bottles wherever they have looked.

But Richard Thompson and colleagues at the University of Plymouth, England, reported in the journal Science yesterday that they looked at apparently clean sand and mud on British beaches, in intertidal estuaries and even under 9m of water for evidence of invisible pollution.

"We found microscopic fragments almost from the first sample. Since then we have looked at more than 20 sites around the UK and this material has been present at all of them," he said. "We are finding just as much in remote parts as we are nearer the big centers."

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