Microplastics found in dolphin breath, alarming study finds
The scientific research reveals that microplastic exposure is now so widespread that it has been detected in wild bottlenose dolphins.
A new scientific study has detected microplastics in the breath of wild dolphins, in a worrying sign of how human-made pollutants are impacting wildlife.
Exposure to microplastics - tiny particles of plastic - has become widespread in humans and wildlife after decades of manufacturing plastic. The rampant use of plastic - and its eventual dumping in landfills - has led to near unavoidable exposure, with microplastics able to be consumed through food, water and even in the air.
Ingested microplastics can have negative effects on human health, including causing inflammation and exposure to the harmful chemicals in the plastics.
The problem has become so invasive that microplastic pollution was found in every human testicle assessed in a recent study.
Now, scientists are continuing to discover how microplastics have spread to wildlife, with new research finding for the first time that microplastics are detectable in the breath of dolphins.
In the study, researchers collected samples of exhaled air from wild bottlenose dolphins. The process was carried out during catch-and-release health assessment studies by wildlife officials in Sarasota Bay, Florida, and Barataria Bay, Louisiana.
In total, the breath of eleven dolphins was measured, by using a collection surface held over each dolphin’s blowhole as the marine animals exhaled.
A bottlenose dolphin during a health assessment. Credit: Todd Speakman/National Marine Mammal Foundation. (CC-BY 4.0)
Analysis of the collected air reported that every dolphin examined had at least one suspected microplastic particle in their breath.
Further research determined that the exhaled microplastic particles included various different plastic polymers, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyester, and polyamide.
The type of plastic is important because it can help inform scientists where the plastic and its exposure has come from. The polymer “polyethylene” for example, is used to make plastic bags.
Many of the plastics inhaled by the dolphins were also made of polyester, which is typically used to make clothing. Microplastics are constantly shed from polyester clothing every time they are worn and particularly when they are washed.
“Finding microplastics in the exhaled breath of dolphins highlights how extensive environmental microplastic pollution is”, said Leslie Hart and Miranda Dziobak, two co-authors of the study, which was published this month in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
The researchers are particularly concerned at the potential health impacts of microplastic exposure on dolphins, as the marine animals have very large lung capacities and take really deep breaths. This could mean that dolphins inhale much higher doses of microplastics than humans do.
“Human studies have demonstrated that microplastic inhalation can lead to lung inflammation and other respiratory problems, so if dolphins are breathing in high doses of plastic, they may be even more vulnerable to these health impacts”, co-authors Hart and Dziobak explained in an interview.
The preliminary research, regarded as the first evidence of microplastic inhalation among free-ranging small cetaceans, could now lead to further work carried out to determine the potential impacts on dolphins’ health.
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