Plastic threads found in oysters, clams along Oregon coast
Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Microplastics are showing up inside clams and oysters on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. New research out of Oregon suggests the majority of the pollution inside bivalves is comprised of microthreads. Synthetic threads are used in a variety of products, but they're especially common in pieces of recreational clothing -- fleece jackets, yoga pants and other forms of outerwear and athletic gear. "These microfilaments can be shed from clothing, up to 700,000 per load of laundry," Britta Baechler, a doctoral student at Portland State University in Oregon, said in a news release. "Those particles then travel out through greywater into wastewater and to the coast." For the new study, published this week in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters, scientists collecte...
