New disease in birds caused by plastic

Rather than being caused by viruses or bacteria, the disease is caused by tiny bits of plastic that lead to inflammation in the digestive tract, the museum said. Over time, such prolonged and repeated inflammation would lead to scarring and tissue deformation, which in turn would affect the animals’ growth, digestion and survival, the researchers write. They studied pale-footed shearwaters from Australia’s Lord Howe Island. In some chicks, the worst-case scenario is that the disease could cause the birds to starve as their stomachs fill with indigestible plastic, the scientists said.

Possible consequences for humans
Conservator and bird expert Alex Bond, who published his findings with colleagues in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, said in a statement from the museum: “It is the first time that stomach tissue has been examined in this way and it can be shown that the food of plastic can seriously damage the digestive system of these birds.” It is suspected that the disease also occurs in other animal species, and effects on human health are also possible.

Bond and his colleagues have spent the last few years studying seabirds on Australia’s Lord Howe Island, some 600 kilometers off the continent’s coast. They also found that the local pale-footed shearwater is among the most plastic-infested birds in the world. They confuse plastic parts with food and deliberately eat them. This also led the team to take a closer look at its effects on the digestive tract.