By Abbas Nazil & Abdullahi Lukman
A recent study has revealed that ingesting even tiny amounts of plastic can be fatal for marine animals, including puffins, sea turtles, and marine mammals.
Scientists working with Ocean Conservancy measured the lethal dose of different types of plastic, finding that less than three sugar cubes’ worth of plastic can give a puffin a 90 percent chance of death.
The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the most comprehensive study to date quantifying how plastics—from soft bags and food wrappers to hard items such as bottles—cause mortality in marine creatures.
Loggerhead sea turtles face a 90 percent risk of death after consuming approximately two baseballs’ worth of plastic, while marine mammals such as harbor porpoises can die after ingesting about a football’s worth.
Smaller quantities also pose serious risks, with less than one sugar cube of plastic giving puffins a 50 percent chance of death, and less than half a baseball of plastic killing one in two loggerhead turtles.
The scientists analyzed 10,412 necropsies worldwide, examining both the amount and type of plastic in the animals’ digestive tracts, and used modeling to determine the relationship between ingested plastics and mortality.
Results indicated that rubber and hard plastics are particularly deadly for seabirds, soft and hard plastics for sea turtles, and soft plastics and fishing gear for marine mammals.
The study also found that nearly half of sea turtles, a third of seabirds, and 12 percent of marine mammals had plastics in their digestive systems at the time of death.
Researchers emphasized that addressing the plastics crisis requires urgent government action to reduce production, improve waste collection, and increase recycling, while policy and individual efforts targeting particularly harmful items such as balloons and plastic bags can make a meaningful difference.
The findings highlight the urgent threat plastics pose to ocean wildlife and underscore the need for immediate global action to protect marine ecosystems.
The study focused only on large plastics and did not account for entanglement or microplastic exposure, meaning the actual threat to marine life is likely even greater.
Scientists warn that addressing the crisis requires reducing plastic production, improving waste management, and cleaning up existing pollution.
Ocean Conservancy officials stressed that volunteer cleanups and policy measures targeting harmful items like balloons and plastic bags are crucial.
Dr. Chelsea Rochman of the University of Toronto added that the research provides “science-based targets for policymakers to protect marine biodiversity.”
With more than 11 million metric tons of plastic entering oceans annually, the study underscores the urgent need for action to safeguard marine wildlife from the growing plastic pollution crisis.
