Danger posed by plastic pellets

Perilous plastics: Plastic pellets, industrial plastic granules and ‘nurdles’, or mermaids’ tears (ie very small plastic pellets), in white, amber, black and red found on a sand beach in south-west France. — MALDESEINE/Wikimedia Commons

TOXIC chemical additives and pollutants that pose multiple health threats to humans and the environment have been found to be present in plastic pellets collected on a Malaysian beach.

The health effects of these chemicals include causing cancer or changing hormone activity (ie endocrine disruption), which can lead to reproductive, growth and cognitive impairment. Many of the toxic chemical additives have several other known health impacts, persist in the environment, and bioaccumulate in organisms exposed to them.