Seabirds affected by plasticosis, a new disease caused by pollution
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Plasticosis. The latest disease discovered by a team of scientists from various research institutions in the United Kingdom and Australia could not be called otherwise, since it is an intestinal disorder associated, precisely, with the ingestion of plastic fragments. Plasticosis, as the authors of the research that was published on the pages of the Journal of Hazardous Materialsaffects the intestine of specimens of flesh-footed shearwater (scientific name Ardenna carneipes), seabirds that live on Lord How Island, in the south-western Pacific, more than 600 kilometers from the Australian coast. But in all likelihood, unfortunately, the species that suffer from the plastic disorder are many more.
From its invention up to the present day, plastic – and in particular its fragments, micro- and nanoplastics – has practically invaded the whole world: it is estimated that our planet’s oceans currently host around 150 million tons, a to which another 5-13 million are added every year.
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L’plastic pollution in short, it is a full-blown emergency, and its deleterious effects on the economy, climate, human health and, precisely, marine life are full-blown. But although many of the effects of plastic on the animal kingdom are already documented, this is the first time that science has managed to recognize a pathological and specific framework in wild animals.
Plasticosis, they explain, is intestinal fibrosis, i.e. a remodeling of the bowel anatomy of the shearwaters, which occurs in response to the state of inflammation produced by the plastic: substantially, when an area of the body is affected by repeated inflammation it loses the ability to heal and heal normally. The equivalent of what happens, for example, in the lungs of those who breathe asbestos (in which case the fibrosis is called asbetsosis) or silicon (silicosis). In this sense, in short, plastic is a real poison for seabirds.
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“Seen from the outside, shearwaters look completely healthy,” he explained Alex Bondco-author of the study and expert on the Natural History Museum of Tring, England, “but their digestive system is not at all. Our study investigated intestinal and stomach tissue for the first time, and showed how serious the consequences of ingesting plastic can be”.
By studying the shearwaters – which unfortunately eat the plastic fragments because they mistake them for food – the researchers discovered a widespread cicatrization of the proventriculus, the first chamber of the birds’ stomach: a characteristic that appeared in a similar way on practically all the specimens studied and which therefore was linked to a specific disease. Which among other things, according to the authors of the work, could also affect other parts of the body, such as i lungs.
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“The tubular glands”, says Bond, “those that secrete digestive compounds, represent perhaps the best example of the consequences of plasticosis. When plastic is ingested, these glands gradually become more and more stunted, until they completely lose structure and function” . Which makes the birds more vulnerable to infection and parasitesas well as affecting their ability to absorb some vitamins.
Scars also make the stomach harder and less flexible, degrading its digestive function. In younger specimens the effects are even worse, since their stomach is smaller: some studies have in fact shown that 90% of chicks harbor fragments of plastic passed to them by their parents in their stomachs, which leads them to starve when their stomachs are overfilled with indigestible material and cannot accommodate real food. “At the moment plasticosis is known only for shearwaters”, conclude the experts of the English museum. “But given the extent of the plastic pollution problem, it’s reasonable to assume that other species may be affected as well.”
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