According to a recent study summarized in The Telegraph, seafood eaters ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic every year and dozens of particles become embedded in tissues.
Researchers from the University of Ghent in Belgium claim that microplastics accumulate in the body over time through seafood consumption and possibly pose a long-term health risk. The scientists warn that this problem will only get worse as pollution in the oceans increases.
According to lead researcher Dr. Colin Janssen:
Now we’ve established that they do enter our body and can stay there for quite a while, we do need to know the fate of the plastics. Where do they go? Are they encapsulated by tissue and forgotten about by the body, or are they causing inflammation or doing other things? Are chemicals leaching out of these plastics and then causing toxicity? We don’t know and actually we do need to know.
This study is the first comprehensive risk assessment of its kind. “If current trends continue, by the end of the century people who regularly eat seafood could be consuming 780,000 pieces of plastic a year, absorbing 4,000 of them from their digestive systems, states the article.
In addition to endangering humans and the environment, eating seafood is incredibly cruel. Like dogs and cats, fish can suffer immensely. A Mercy For Animals undercover investigation at a fish slaughter facility uncovered fish being skinned alive.
The best thing we can do to remove our support from the unhealthy, unsustainable, and cruel fishing industry is to leave fish off our plates and switch to a compassionate vegan diet.
Check out all the amazing vegan versions of seafood available nationwide, such as Gardein’s fishless filets and crabless cakes. Click here for compassionate sea-inspired recipes.
For more information on transitioning to a kind vegan diet, visit ChooseVeg.com.