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Re:Bugs are evolving to eat plastic, study finds by SpectralTheory on Tuesday May 24, 2022 @07:55PM (#31498960)
Well, local unfettered growth can definitely cause local environmental problems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutrophication

Re:Bugs are evolving to eat plastic, study finds by daveslash on Wednesday May 25, 2022 @07:44AM (#31503133)
Yeah. Although I didn't explicitly state it, this is what I was implying. For example, could plastic-eating-bacteria "super bloom" in a plastic rich localized area of the ocean - suck up all the oxygen with it's bloom and kill off competing species of fish, plankton, etc... causing food chain disruptions? Could a localized super bloom acidify a localized coral reef with the C02 byproduct?

I'm no ecologist or scientist, so I am not saying that it necessarily would happen, but we should think through these things as a matter of due-diligence before proposing that we toss this stuff in the ocean at scale.

Re:Bugs are evolving to eat plastic, study finds by rswail on Wednesday May 25, 2022 @09:19AM (#31504115)
What makes you think that the researchers would not also be investigating for unexpected and potentially dangerous side effects before "toss[ing] this stuff in the ocean at scale"?