Beads and balls

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news yet again, but here are 2 more concerns about the environment:

• TARBALLS: Aquatic microbiologist Cova Arias of Auburn University has made a disturbing discovery about the tarballs left after the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Although her findings haven't received much press or attention from public health officials, she has shown that the tarballs contain high levels of Vibrio vulnificus, better known as the flesh-eating bacteria, which cause severe wound infections that lead to amputations and sometimes death. V. vulnificus is also the leading cause of seafood-borne fatalities nationwide. Although the bacteria is a natural part of the coastal environment, the oil contains a high concentration of the organic carbon which the organisms eat, so their numbers are 10× higher in tarballs than in sand, and up to 100× higher in tarballs than in seawater.
• MICROBEADS: In other off-putting and unpublicized news, researchers from the 5 Gyres Institute have found that America's Great Lakes - which hold 1/5th of the Earth's freshwater - are teeming with abrasive "microbeads," tiny bits of polyethylene plastic commonly used as exfoliants in face soaps, body washes, toothpastes, and other personal care products. The sample they pulled in from Lake Erie contained 1.7 million tiny plastic particles, an even higher density than most ocean samples. The Institute is working with manufacturers to stop using the microbeads, but perhaps some consumer education is in order. "These beads wash straight down your drain after washing your face, and directly into your watershed. No sewage treatment system can capture them."

 

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