Contemporary politics,local and international current affairs, science, music and extracts from the Queensland Newspaper "THE WORKER" documenting the proud history of the Labour Movement.
MAHATMA GANDHI ~ Truth never damages a cause that is just.
The indictment concerns alleged hush money Donald Trump paid to former adult film actor Stormy Daniels in 2016.(Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)
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Donald
Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into
hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, two sources said on
Thursday, becoming the first former US president to face criminal
charges, even as he makes another run for the White House.
Key points:
No former or sitting US president has ever faced criminal charges
Lawyers for Donald Trump uncertain of when his will surrender
Indictment related to hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election
The
charges — arising from an investigation led by Democratic Manhattan
District Attorney Alvin Bragg — could reshape the 2024 presidential
race.
Mr Trump has previously said he would continue campaigning for the Republican Party's nomination if charged with a crime.
The specific charges are not yet known and the indictment will likely be announced in the coming days.
Mr Trump will have to travel to Manhattan for fingerprinting and other processing at that point.
Susan
Necheles — a lawyer representing the former president — said she was
informed of the indictment but did not know when Mr Trump would
surrender.
A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the indictment.
The
Manhattan investigation is one of several legal challenges facing Mr
Trump, and the charges could hurt his presidential comeback attempt.
Some 44 per cent of Republicans said Mr Trump shoulddrop out of the race if he is indicted, according to recent polling.
The
grand jury convened by Mr Bragg in January began hearing evidence about
Mr Trump's role in the payment to Stormy Daniels in the days before the
2016 presidential election that he ended up winning.
Ms
Daniels — a well-known adult film actress and director whose real name
is Stephanie Clifford — has said she received the money in exchange for
keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.
The
former president's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has said that Mr
Trump directed hush payments to Ms Daniels and to a second woman, former
Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had a sexual
relationship with him.
Mr Trump has denied having affairs with either woman.
Federal prosecutors examined the Daniels payoff in 2018, leading to a prison sentence for Cohen but no charges against Mr Trump.
No former or sitting US president has ever faced criminal charges.
Mr
Trump also faces two criminal investigations by a special counsel
appointed by US Attorney-General Merrick Garland and one by a local
prosecutor in Georgia.
Plants make sounds when they are in distress that can't be detected by human ears.(ABC Sunshine Coast: Annie Gaffney)
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If
you're like me, you've managed to kill even the hardiest of indoor
plants (yes, despite a doctorate in plant biology). But imagine a world
where your plants actually told you exactly when they needed watering.
This thought, as it turns out, may not be so silly after all.
You might be familiar with the growing body of work that provides evidence for plants
being able to sense sounds around them. Now, new research suggests they
can also generate airborne sounds in response to stress (such as from
drought, or being cut).
A team led by experts at
Tel Aviv University has shown tomato and tobacco plants, among others,
not only make sounds, but do so loudly enough for other creatures to
hear. Their findings, published today in
the journal Cell, are helping us tune into the rich acoustic world of
plants — one that plays out all round us, yet never quite within human
earshot.
Plants can listen, but now they can talk!
Plants are "sessile" organisms. They can't run away from stressors such as herbivores or drought.
Instead,
they've evolved complex biochemical responses and the ability to
dynamically alter their growth (and regrow body parts) in response to
environmental signals including light, gravity, temperature, touch, and
volatile chemicals produced by surrounding organisms.
These
signals help them maximise their growth and reproductive success,
prepare for and resist stress, and form mutually beneficial
relationships with other organisms such as fungi and bacteria.
In 2019, researchers showed the buzzing of bees can cause plants to produce sweeter nectar. Others have shown white noise played to a flowering plant in the mustard family can trigger a drought response.
Now,
a team led by Lilach Hadany, who also led the aforementioned bee-nectar
study, has recorded airborne sounds produced by tomato and tobacco
plants, and five other species (grapevine, henbit deadnettle, pincushion
cactus, maize and wheat).
These sounds were ultrasonic, in the range of 20-100 kilohertz, and therefore can't be detected by human ears.
Plants are "sessile" organisms meaning they can't run away from stressors such as herbivores or drought.(Wikimedia Commons: Quackor)
Stressed plants chatter more
To
carry out their research, the team placed microphones 10cm from plant
stems that were either exposed to drought (less than 5 per cent soil
moisture) or had been severed near the soil. They then compared the
recorded sounds to those of unstressed plants, as well as empty pots,
and found stressed plants emitted significantly more sounds than
unstressed plants.
In a cool addition to their paper, they also included a soundbite of a recording, down sampled to an audible range and sped up.
The
number of pops increased as drought stress increased (before starting
to decline as the plant dried up). Moreover, the sounds could be
detected from a distance of 3-5 metres — suggesting potential for
long-range communication.
But what actually causes these sounds?
While
this remains unconfirmed, the team's findings suggest that "cavitation"
may be at least partially responsible for the sounds. Cavitation is the
process through which air bubbles expand and burst inside a plant's
water-conducting tissue, or "xylem". This explanation makes sense if we
consider that drought stress and cutting will both alter the water
dynamics in a plant stem.
Regardless
of the mechanism, it seems the sounds produced by stressed plants were
informative. Using machine learning algorithms, the researchers could
distinguish not only which species produced the sound, but also what
type of stress it was suffering from.
It remains to
be seen whether and how these sound signals might be involved in
plant-to-plant communication or plant-to-environment communication.
The
research has so far failed to detect any sounds from the woody stems of
woody species (which includes many tree species), although they could
detect sounds from non-woody parts of a grapevine (a woody species).
What could it mean for ecology, and us?
It's
temping to speculate these airborne sounds could help plants
communicate their stress more widely. Could this form of communication
help plants, and perhaps wider ecosystems, adapt better to change?
Or
perhaps the sounds are used by other organisms to detect a plant's
health status. Moths, for example, hear within the ultrasonic range and
lay their eggs on leaves, as the researchers point out.
Could listening to plants help farmers know when commercial crops need irrigating?(Supplied: LAWD)
Then there's the question of whether such findings could help with future food production. The global demand for
food will only rise. Tailoring water use to target individual plants or
sections of field making the most "noise" could help us more
sustainably intensify production and minimise waste.
For
me personally, if someone could give a microphone to my neglected
veggie patch and have the notifications sent to my phone, that would be
much appreciated!
Alice Hayward is a
molecular biologist at the University of Queensland and plant molecular
physiologist in the Mitter Lab at the Queensland Alliance for
Agriculture and Food Innovation. This piece first appeared on The Conversation.
This video shows how astronomers used gravitational lensing to discover the black hole.(Supplied: Durham University)
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Astronomers
making use of a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing have
discovered a black hole about 33 billion times the mass of the Sun —
close to the upper limit of how large scientists believe they can be.
Key points:
Astronomers have located one of the largest black holes ever discovered in a galaxy about 2.7 billion light-years away
They used a high-powered supercomputer and pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope to confirm the black hole's existence
They also relied on gravitational lensing, which has implications for the future study of distant, inactive black holes
The
rare "ultramassive" black hole sits at the centre of Abell 1201, a
supergiant elliptical galaxy residing in a galaxy cluster of the same
name, about 2.7 billion light-years from Earth.
Researchers
from the United Kingdom's Durham University and Germany's Max Planck
Institute discovered the black hole using an innovative
technique combining supercomputer simulations with high-resolution
pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The
Hubble pictures showed light from another galaxy behind Abell 1201 was
reaching Earth in a way that indicated it was bending around an
extremely massive object along the way — creating a 'lensing' effect in
which the more distant galaxy was both magnified and seemingly
multiplied around a curved edge.
Astronomers
believe every large galaxy has a black hole of at least supermassive
size (more than 100,000 times the mass of the Sun) at its centre.
The
researchers used Durham's DiRAC COSMA8 supercomputer to run hundreds of
thousands of simulations of light travelling the same path, each time
with a black hole of a different mass in the way.
An artist's impression of a black hole, where the black hole's intense gravitational field distorts the space around it.(Supplied: ESA/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey)
When
an ultramassive black hole roughly 33 billion times the mass of the Sun
was included in the simulations, they produced images that matched the
real pictures taken by Hubble.
Dr James Nightingale
was lead author of the group's study, which was published in the
scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on
Wednesday.
He called the results of the
study "extremely exciting", and said the technique the researchers used
had implications for future study on distant black holes.
"This
particular black hole, which is roughly 30 billion times the mass of
our Sun, is one of the biggest ever detected and on the upper limit of
how large we believe black holes can theoretically become," he said.
"Most
of the biggest black holes that we know about are in an active state,
where matter pulled in close to the black hole heats up and releases
energy in the form of light, X-rays, and other radiation.
"However,
gravitational lensing makes it possible to study inactive black holes,
something not currently possible in distant galaxies. This approach
could let us detect many more black holes beyond our local universe and
reveal how these exotic objects evolved further back in cosmic time."
The
discovery of the Abell 1201 ultramassive black hole answers a question
first raised almost 20 years ago by another Durham University
astronomer, Professor Alastair Edge, who is listed as one of the study's
co-authors.
He was reviewing images of a galaxy survey in 2004 when he first noticed the giant arc of a gravitational lens.
Changes to circulation patterns in the Southern Ocean are closely linked to melting ice in Antarctica.(Supplied: Olaf Meynecke)
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A
"dramatic" change to ocean circulation could unfold in the Southern
Ocean over the next three decades with wide-reaching effects on weather
and fisheries, according to researchers.
Key points:
The Antarctic overturning circulation is projected to slow dramatically by 2050
Similar circulation pattern changes in the North Atlantic were the premise of the film The Day After Tomorrow
The changes would have wide-reaching impacts on fisheries and weather, according to researchers
The
landmark study, published in Nature on Thursday, examined waters at the
deepest layers of the ocean that play a crucial role in circulating
heat and nutrients around the globe.
Professor
Matthew England said the results were both significant and "concerning",
likening their projecting to the premise of The Day After Tomorrow.
The
fictional film, which was based on the real-life slowdown of the
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation current, saw polar melting
disrupt the North Atlantic current, setting off a chain of events that
influenced weather around the globe.
"In our simulation, [the slowing circulation] in the Antarctic outpaces the North Atlantic by two to one," Dr England said.
"We
know so much about the Atlantic overturning and it's been such an
established part of science, so much so that a film has been made about
it.
"And here we have an overturning circulation
that's just as important to humanity, where we still don't understand
why things are changing, what the drivers are, and what the future is."
Freshening the world's densest waters
The
findings of the study all have to do with the production of incredibly
dense water, formed around Antarctica, known as Antarctic Bottom Water.
Vimeo Australian Academy of Science: "Why are massive ocean currents slowing down?"
The
water is essentially the by-product of sea ice formation around
Antarctica, which leaves behind very salty and cold water, which can
sink to the deepest layers of the ocean.
It is a
key part of the conveyer-belt-like system of underwater currents known
as the "overturning circulation", which cycle heat, carbon, and
nutrients around the globe.
Oceanographer Adele Morrison says the slowing of the Antarctic overturning circulation would have "huge" impacts on marine life.(Supplied: Australian National University)
But
oceanographer Adele Morrison, who was one of the authors of the paper,
said simulations had shown the overturning circulation would slow down
considerably based on a high-emissions scenario.
"By 2050 we're looking at a 40 per cent reduction of the abyssal overturning circulation," Dr Morrison said.
"It's huge. If we shut down this transport of water around the globe, that has a huge impact on lots of things."
Melting ice behind change
Dr Morrison said the slowdown was driven almost exclusively by the melting of ice sheets and shelves.
Sea ice formation contributes to the production of Antarctic Bottom Water.(Supplied: Robert Johnson)
"So this puts extra fresh water into the ocean around Antarctica," she said.
"And it's this freshwater that reduces the density and lightens the waters around Antarctica.
"Therefore
you don't get as much descending of those dense waters into the abyss,
and you get a reduction in the overturning circulation."
Melting of ice around Antarctica is a direct consequence of climate change.
Potential 'collapse' of ecosystems
The
overturning currents play a key role in bringing nutrients from the
bottom layers of the ocean, where dead marine creatures have sunk to,
back toward the surface.
The "overturning circulation" in the Southern Ocean helps move nutrients around the oceans.(Supplied: Alfred-Wegener-Institut; Ulrich Freier/Australian Antarctic Division)
Dr Morrison said slowing the overturning process could have dire consequences for marine life.
"Once
you shut down this overturning circulation and its resupply of
nutrients, we're looking at danger of collapse of some of these
ecosystems," she said.
She said this flow-on effect would play out over a much longer time frame.
"We're studying the dense water formed around Antarctica and its descent into the abyssal ocean," she said.
"But most of the impacts are then felt when the waters rise back up.
"And so the timescales are a bit slower, more sort of century-type timescales."
Impacts to rainfall in the Southern Hemisphere
The overturning circulation also has a relationship with climate patterns.
Dr England said a change in overturning in the ocean could lead to less rainfall in the Southern Hemisphere.
Deputy director of the ARC Australian Centre for Excellence Matthew
England said the pace at which the circulation was projected to slow was
"dramatic".(Supplied: UNSW)
He said this was driven by a shift in the position of tropical rainbands.
"Overall,
the Southern Hemisphere tends to be a bit drier with this overturning
slowing down and the Northern Hemisphere tends to get a bit wetter," Dr
England said.
Like the impacts to marine life, this would happen over a much longer timescale.
Dr
Qian Li, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said one of the
things that might limit that change was the countering impact of the
overturning current in the Northern Hemisphere.
"It depends which magnitude is larger," she said.
The slowdown of circulation could also promote further ice melt around Antarctica, according to the researchers.
Reducing emissions crucial, say researchers
Dr England said without change to emissions, the downward trajectory would continue.
"That 40 per cent value is not where it stops; we only run the simulations to 2050," he said.
"So there's every chance that's going to be 60 per cent or 80 per cent in the decades that follow 2050."
The changes to ocean circulation in the Southern Ocean could have wide-reaching impacts for fisheries.(Supplied: Cath Deacon/Australian Antarctic Division)
Dr England said the importance of reversing the trend should not be underestimated.
"All of human civilisation has developed with this overturning circulation," he said.
"If we switch it off, we fundamentally change the cycling of nutrients through the oceans.
"We
could see mass extinction of some species of fish, we could see a loss
of fisheries that we rely on for food down the track."
Sweden and Finland have requested to join NATO in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.(Reuters: Yves Herman)
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Sweden
said it was summoning the Russian ambassador after he said it and
neighbouring Finland would become a "legitimate target" of "retaliatory
measures" -- including military ones -- if they join NATO.
Key points:
Russian
ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev warned Finland and Sweden will become
"legitimate targets" for "retaliatory measures" if they joined NATO
Sweden's bid to join NATO has run into opposition from Hungary and Turkiye
NATO membership requires ratification by all 30 members of the bloc
Finland
and Sweden will become "legitimate targets" of Russian "retaliatory
measures" once they join NATO, Russian ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev
warned on Tuesday.
But Sweden's Foreign Minister
Tobias Billstrom said "the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will summon the
Russian ambassador to make a clear statement against this blatant
attempt at influence".
"Sweden's security policy is determined by Sweden -- no one else," Mr Billstrom added.
The Russian diplomat upped the ante in the standoff with Stockholm in a statement posted on his embassy's website.
"If
anyone still believes that this (NATO membership) in any way will
somehow improve Europe's security, you can be sure that the new members
of the hostile bloc will become a legitimate target for Russian
retaliatory measures, including military ones," he warned.
He said that rather than becoming safer Sweden was "taking a step towards the abyss" by joining NATO.
"After
the accession of Finland and Sweden, the total length of the border
between Russia and NATO will almost double," he added.
NATO membership requires ratification by all 30 members of the bloc.
After
having its bid ratified by Hungary this week, Finland is only waiting
on Turkiye, which has signalled it will approve it shortly.
Sweden's bid has meanwhile run into opposition from Hungary and especially Turkiye after a litany of diplomatic spats.
Stockholm still hopes to join before the next NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
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Alexei Navalny's chief of staff Leonid Volkov is currently in Australia.(Sarah Ferguson)
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The
chief of staff for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei
Navalny is urging Australia to continue to exert financial pressure on
the Kremlin.
Key points:
Alexei Navalny's chief of staff Leonid Volkov says targeting Russia's elites is key to ending the war
Australia has imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs as well as trade and other commercial activity
Volkov says the Russian opposition leader is "not going to give up"
"Australia is one of the leading players with regards to the sanction policy," Leonid Volkov told ABC's 7.30.
"And
this is important for us … that this sanction policy is tailored to be
efficient to split Russian elites and to defeat Putin. That's why we are
talking to Australian politicians."
In Australia
for meetings in Canberra and with the large Russian diaspora, Mr Volkov
said increased economic pressure from the West could make it difficult
for Mr Putin to continue to finance his invasion of Ukraine, and
ultimately push the dictator out of office.
Since
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Australia has imposed sanctions on Russian
oligarchs, as well as on trade and other commercial activity.
"People
under pressure, people under stress, tend to make mistakes, and some of
these mistakes will be his last," Mr Volkov told 7.30.
Leonid Volkov says increased economic pressure from the West could ultimately push Vladimir Putin out of office.(Reuters: Sputnik)
A life sentence
In
August 2020, Mr Navalny was allegedly poisoned by the Russian secret
service with a military-grade nerve agent called Novichok. He was flown
to Germany for treatment where he remained until January 2021.
Mr
Volkov was with Mr Navalny in Germany as he prepared for his fateful
return to Moscow, and said the charismatic leader never considered not
returning to his homeland.
From his prison cell, Alexei Navalny heads Russia's opposition movement, the Anti-Corruption Foundation.(AP: Denis Kaminev)
"To stay abroad would be to admit that Putin's strategy to push people he doesn't like out of the country works," he said.
"What
happened to Alexei … that's clearly a life sentence. The question is,
for the duration of whose life, Alexei's or Putin's?"
A
long-time politician and anti-corruption campaigner, Mr Navalny has
been arrested several times on charges varying from fraud to terrorism
and extremism.
He always maintained his innocence and rejected all proceedings against him as politically motivated.
Punished for the Oscar-winning documentary
From
his cell in a high-security prison about 200 kilometres east of Moscow,
Mr Navalny continues to campaign for a post-Putin Russia.
"It's
a continuation of the strategy that the Russian government is actually
following … to try to break down Alexei psychologically … to make his
life in prison unbearable."
According to Mr Volkov,
Mr Navalny was moved to a 2x3 metre cell as a form of punishment after
the documentary Navalny won an Oscar a few weeks ago.
A film about the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny won the Oscar for best documentary.
"He
has been put in the punishment cell, which is the most severe
punishment within the Russian prison system for the 12th time," Mr
Volkov told 7.30.
"We have all the possible reasons
to suspect that there is a connection … this is a very small and shitty
cell … with a neighbour there who didn't wash himself for the last
two months."
Mr Volkov said the harassment of Mr Navalny would not break him, but the nature of his imprisonment endangered his health.
Navalny tweets his policies to the outside world
Mr Navalny communicates with the outside world largely through social media via his lawyers.
Last
month, on the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, he outlined
a peace plan on Twitter. It included restoring Ukraine's
internationally recognised borders.
Mr Navalny's
critics said his position on Crimea had been ambiguous in the past, with
the politician denouncing Russia's annexation but not campaigning for
Crimea's return to Ukraine.
Mr Volkov said Mr Navalny's position is clear.
"We
always maintained the position that Crimea was annexed illegally, then
we gave a political assessment that, unfortunately, the return to
[internationally] recognised borders will not happen soon. And this is
just a political reality."
Optimism is part of the job description
Mr Volkov said the Navalny opposition movement would never stop fighting for a democratic alternative to Mr Putin's regime.
Leonid Volkov says optimism is a job requirement for the opposition movement led by Navalny.(Reuters: Shamil Zhumatov)
"He's not going to give up," Mr Volkov told 7.30.
"Optimism is a job requirement for what we are doing."
He said even in a country where dissidents were persecuted and protests suppressed, it was important to keep speaking up.
"You
can't be a Russian opposition politician without a good chunk of
optimism …. there are always possibilities to do something," he said.
"And that's our message to everyone … keep fighting."
Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7.30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV
Analysis
of the impact of plastics found disproportionate effects on coastal and
ocean-dependent communities while production workers were at increased
risk of a range of diseases.
First
analysis of plastics’ hazards over life cycle – from extraction to
disposal – also shows ‘deep societal injustices’ of impact.
Wed 29 Mar 2023 01.00 AEDTLast modified on Wed 29 Mar 2023 01.21 AEDTPlastics
are responsible for wide-ranging health impacts including cancers, lung
disease and birth defects, according to the first analysis of the
health hazards of plastics across their entire life cycle – from
extraction for manufacturing, through to dumping into landfill and
oceans.
Led by the Boston College Global Observatory on Planetary Health
in partnership with Australia’s Minderoo Foundation and the Centre
Scientifique de Monaco, the review found “current patterns of plastic
production, use, and disposal are not sustainable and are responsible
for significant harms to human health … as well as for deep societal
injustices”.
“The
main driver of these worsening harms is an almost exponential and still
accelerating increase in global plastic production,” the analysis, published in the medical journal Annals of Global Health,
found. “Plastics’ harms are further magnified by low rates of recovery
and recycling and by the long persistence of plastic waste in the
environment.”
Coalminers, oil workers and gas
field workers who extract fossil carbon feedstocks for plastic
production, along with plastic production workers, are at particular
risk of harm, the report found.
These workers “suffer increased mortality
from traumatic injury … silicosis, cardiovascular disease, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer,” the report said.
“Plastic
production workers are at increased risk of leukaemia, lymphoma … brain
cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma … and decreased fertility. Plastic
recycling workers have increased rates of cardiovascular disease, toxic
metal poisoning, neuropathy, and lung cancer.”
Meanwhile,
residents of communities adjacent to plastic production and waste
disposal sites experience increased risks of premature birth, low birth
weight, asthma, childhood leukaemia, cardiovascular disease, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. The report referred to
evidence that infants in the womb and young children are at particularly
high risk.
The article recommends a global
plastics treaty to control the manufacture and use of plastics, and to
reduce the disproportionate health and environmental impacts of plastics
on coastal and ocean-dependent communities and those working in
high-risk industries. The authors wrote that any treaty should be in
accord with the mandate set in March 2022 at the UN Environment Assembly.
Frank
Seebacher, a professor in biology at the University of Sydney’s school
of life and environmental sciences, agreed that a binding treaty was
needed.
“Plastics
are on par with climate change in their harmful effects globally, and
drive climate change with their need for fossil fuels,” he said.
“The
call for better management of plastics is an often-repeated refrain in
the literature, particularly because most plastic use is unnecessary –
for example, single use plastic and packaging – and can be easily
replaced. This new paper looks like it is making a very valuable
contribution by synthesising the available literatures into a set of
concrete recommendations.”
Group leader of the
inflammation biology group at the QIMR Berghofer in Brisbane, Prof
Andreas Suhrbier, said nearly all humans now consumed “a fair amount of
plastic” and it was crucial that more research funding be dedicated to
examining its impact.
“This is estimated at a credit card’s worth of plastic per week, usually in the form of microplastics,” Suhrbier said.
“Sadly,
the amount of good medical research in this space is very limited. What
are the direct detrimental effects on human health of such plastic
consumption? What diseases are exacerbated by such plastic consumption?
Who in our population would be most vulnerable?
“Questions
regarding the health impacts of microplastic consumption are hard to
answer without dedicated research funding and some well-constituted
studies that establish a causal relationship between microplastic
consumption and a disease or disorder.”
