Research: Microplastic impact on human health to be studied

The Chief Medical Officer is to study the risks to human health from eating seafood containing tiny particles of plastic.

The Government has ordered a review amid growing concern that plastic pollution in the ocean is being eaten by marine creatures and then passed up the food chain.

Someone eating half a dozen oysters is likely to consume 50 tiny pieces of microplastic, according to a report earlier this year by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee.

In its response to the report the Government acknowledged that there is "little evidence" on the impact to human health from eating the plastic.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, will carry out an investigation into the risks as part of a wider year-long review of the health effects of pollution.

Mary Creagh, chair of the committee, said: "It's welcome news that the Chief Medical Officer will investigate the impact of microplastics on human health.

"Our inquiry recommended more research in this area, as microplastics are found frequently in sea food like shellfish and oysters."

The Government has already banned the use of plastic microbeads in exfoliating face washes and other cosmetics from 2017.

But it is now considering extending the ban to abrasive household cleaners.

It's estimated that British consumers use 680 tonnes a year of microbeads. The tiny balls are too small to be filtered out at water treatment  facilities and they are flushed out to sea.

But microbeads are only a small part of the ocean plastic problem.

It's estimated that there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating on the ocean surface. The vast majority is microplastic - fragments less than 5mm across that have been broken down from everyday items by sunlight and the churning waves.

Roughly 8 million tonnes of plastic each year are washed out to sea worldwide.

It doesn't rot or disappear.

Small pieces are mistaken for food by sea birds and marine creatures.

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