What is Plasticosis?
Scientists found a new disease named ‘Plasticosis’ for wild birds caused by plastic. Small pieces of plastic cause Plasticosis due to this digestive tract starts inflaming. Seabirds accidentally eat plastic while fishing and feed the same to their chicks. Small plastic pieces start inflammation over time and affect the birds’ health. As a result, they cannot digest the food properly and slowly die due to this.
Scientists from UK and Australia noticed the scars on the stomach of the sea birds and decided to name the disease of wild birds caused by the plastic found in water. They noticed birds that have eaten plastic have scars on their gut.
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Natural History Museum’s Dr. Alex Bond, who studied, said birds look healthy but are not. This is because the pieces of plastic disturb their digestion system, and they cannot digest the food and scars found on their body due to this disease. As a result, birds who are affected are more vulnerable to infection. Meanwhile, only one bird species was found infected. Still, due to more plastic pollution, it may spread widely as around 30 million tonnes of plastic are found in oceans and about 109 tonnes in the river and increasing over the decades.
