Microplastics in marine life – precautionary principle urges action

Allow the precautionary principle to be paramount in achieving Good Environmental Status in accordance with the Marine Directive. Because plastics and highly persistent chemicals take a very long time to degrade, the problem is largely irreversible once it has been detected. Photo: Zandra Gerdes include the washing of synthetic fabrics, car tyre wear and tear, artificial turf, anti-fouling paint, cosmetics, and many others. Together with land-based plastic debris, these particles reach the marine environment by storm water, wastewater, rivers, and air. Once in the water, large items of plastic break down into microplastics as the result of sunlight and mechanical wear and tear. The quantities of microplastics in the oceans, their sources, and their impacts on marine organisms are recent research fields, and the knowledge is still fragmentary. At the same time, the discharge of plastics into the marine environment is not abating, and once there plastics will be very difficult to get rid of. This gives cause for concern – and reason to seek to limit the discharge of plastics to the marine environment by political means.