2024-01-31 23:43:11
Red Cross and the Man and Territory Association (HyT) have found microplastics in 100% of the samples collected in their latest study, within the framework of the LIBERA Project of SEO/BirdLife y Ecoembeswhich has analyzed the water of 11 rivers and 7 Spanish beaches, as reported by the organization in a statement.
Specifically, the samples were contaminated by fibers, fragments, films, sponges or plastic spheres, among other materials. Thus, fiber-type elements are the most represented (67% in rivers, 73% in seas), followed by fragment-type elements (22% in rivers, 23% in seas), while the typology films, sponges and spheres are have been identified on fewer occasions (between 1% and 3%).
Health consequences
For all these reasons, the Red Cross warns that aquatic ecosystems are exposed to these materials that “can be ingested” with health consequences.
They can be ingested directly or indirectly by people, with health consequences due to their own ingestion or the release of the chemical additives of which they are composed and we also breathe and swallow them.
“They can be ingested directly or indirectly by people, with health consequences due to their own ingestion or the release of the chemical additives of which they are composed and although they appear in aquatic ecosystems such as rivers, reservoirs, lagoons, groundwater and consumption , we are seeing that many of the fibers in synthetic clothing are in suspension, that is, we also breathe and swallow them,” warns the Red Cross.
Synthetic fabrics and ropes present in urban, agricultural and industrial environments
The study also emphasizes that the contaminants come “mainly” from synthetic fabrics and ropes, which are present in urban, agricultural and industrial environments.
For all this, CRed ruz calls for legislation that prevents the appearance of new microplastics that can break or “leave residue” and, although they recognize that European regulations “are more advanced than others”, they ask to “encourage the use of materials other than plastic” and “prevent landfills from being exposed to the elements”.
The analyzed samples have been collected from rivers of Andalusia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Ceuta, Valencian Community, Euskadi, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia and Navarra, and beaches of Andalusia, Cantabria, Ceuta, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Murcia.
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