An international team of researchers led by Japanese researchers recently assessed that about 52% of the world's seabirds contain plastic additives in their bodies, so the impact of plastic pollution on Marine animals is increasingly worrying.

The researchers came from 18 universities and research institutes in seven countries and regions, including Japan. They conducted a joint survey of 145 seabirds from 32 species in 16 regions around the world, analyzing the composition of the fat secreted by the tail lipid glands near their tail feathers. Plastic additives, including two flame retardants and six stabilizers that help prevent the aging of plastics from ultraviolet light, were detected in the fat of the tail lipid glands of 76 seabirds.

The seabirds detected included brachypetrel in Niigata Prefecture, Japan; grey finches on St. Lawrence Island near the Arctic; brachypetrel in Marion Island, South Africa near the Antarctic; and penguins on Kerguelang Island in the Southern Indian Ocean. The researchers also detected the UV absorber UV328 in seabirds in Ecuador and elsewhere, and authorities are considering regulating it under an international treaty.

The team estimates that up to 30 percent of the seabirds in the study had increased concentrations of the additive by eating it directly, while the rest had accumulated the additive through food such as fish.

Japan's Kyodo News agency on the 17th quoted professor Hideshige Takada of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Japan as saying: "Globally, seabirds have more and more plastic in their bodies. "It is imperative to switch to additives that are less toxic and do not accumulate in living organisms." According to Takata, about 400 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide each year, some of which ends up in the ocean as trash and is difficult to degrade. When the plastic floats on the surface or washes up on beaches, it breaks down into smaller pieces in the sun, which can easily be eaten by birds.

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