Apparently few actually read the ‘evidence’ they knee-jerk cite to.
Specifically, the Brown study examined mussels who were kept in containers with 0.51 g/L of micro particles of plastic. And, surprise surprise, some of the micro particles found their way into the mussels. Shocker. That density of particles is nonexistent in nature. But, as long as you get the grant money...
The same Scientific America article also makes this claim:
“In a surprising study published in March, not only did fish exposed to microplastics reproduce less but their offspring, who weren’t directly exposed to plastic particles, also had fewer young, suggesting the effects can linger into subsequent generations.”
But, if you read the study it (a) has nothing to do with fish, but rather plankton, and (b) the exposure to micro plastics INCREASED the number of offspring!
People should read the studies. But, it’s easier to smugly downvote.
Let me know when the ocean has .5grams of nano-sized plastic particles per Liter.
That would be around 300000000000000 Tons of plastic, all in the form of nano-sized particles.
Then — and only then — would you begin to see an effect on Mussels.
But, of course, long before that, the world would have ended.