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A sea turtle has a 22% chance of dying if it only eats a piece of plastic, an Australian scientific institution said Friday, quantifying for the first time the risk that plastic pollution poses to sea turtle populations.
According to a statement by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), scientists found that there was a 50% chance that a sea turtle would die if it had 14 plastic objects in its gut.
However, "even a single piece of plastic can kill a turtle," said Kathy Townsend of Sunshine Coast University, who participated in the analysis of nearly 1,000 turtles found dead and stranded on the islands. Australian beaches.
"Some of the turtles we studied had eaten only one piece of plastic, which was enough to kill him. In one case, the intestines were punctured and in the other, the soft plastic clogged the intestines, "Townsend said.
Prior to this study, it was unclear whether ocular plastics killed sea turtles or whether they simply ingested them without causing major damage.
Sea turtles are among the first animals to consume plastic debris, a phenomenon that occurs worldwide in the seven species of marine turtles.
Globally, an estimated 52% of marine turtles have consumed plastic.
According to the United Nations, eight million tons of plastic waste have ended up in the oceans each year.
The UN suggested that if this trend continues, there will likely be more plastics than fish in the oceans by 2050, as seabed pollution is already present in all parts of the world.
"Some of the (sea) turtles we studied had eaten only one piece of plastic, which was enough to kill him. In one case, the intestine was perforated and in the other, the soft plastic was obstructing the intestine.
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