新研究发现：你每周吃掉一张信用卡大小的塑料

You could be swallowing a credit card's weight in plastic every week

你可能每周吃掉一张信用卡大小的塑料

Globally, we are ingesting an average of 5 grams of plastic every week, the equivalent of a credit card, a new study suggests.

一项新研究显示，在全球范围内，我们每周平均吞下5g塑料，相当于一张信用卡大小。

This plastic contamination comes from "microplastics" -- particles smaller than five millimeters -- which are making their way into our food, drinking water and even the air.

这些塑料污染物来自“塑料微粒”，就是小于5mm的颗粒，这些颗粒正在进入我们的食物、饮用水，甚至空气中。

Around the world, people ingest an average of around 2,000 microplastic particles a week, according to the study by the University of Newcastle, in Australia.

澳大利亚纽卡斯尔大学进行的研究表明，在全世界人们每周吞下平均约2,000个塑料微粒。

These tiny particles can originate from a variety of sources, including artificial clothes fibers, microbeads found in some toothpastes, or bigger pieces of plastic which gradually break into smaller pieces when they're thrown away and exposed to the elements.

这些微小颗粒来源很广，包括人造服装纤维、一些牙膏中的微珠，或被丢弃后暴露在大自然中逐渐分解成小块的大块塑料。

They make their way into our rivers and oceans, and can be eaten by fish and other marine animals, ending up as part of the food chain.

它们进入河流和大海，被鱼和其他海洋动物吃掉，最后成为食物链的一部分。

Microplastics have been found in many everyday foods and drinks, such as water, beer, shellfish and salt, co-lead researcher Kala Senathirajah told CNN.

联合首席研究员Kala Senathirajah对CNN说，塑料微粒在很多日常食物和饮料中都有，比如水、啤酒、贝类和盐。

"It is very clear that the issue of microplastics is a global one. Even if countries clean up their backyard, it doesn't mean they will be safe as those [microplastic] particles could be entering from other sources," she said.

她说：“塑料微粒的问题明显是全球问题，即使有些国家治理好了自己的环境，也并不意味着他们就安全了，因为那些塑料微粒还可以从其他渠道过来。”

The largest source of plastic ingestion is drinking water, according to the research, which reviews 52 existing studies to estimate plastic ingestion around the world.

研究表明人类摄取塑料的最大来源就是饮用水，研究参考了52个现有研究来估计全球的塑料摄入。

The research was commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for its report "No Plastic in Nature: Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People."

世界自然基金会(WWF)为了《净塑自然：评估人类从自然界摄取的塑料》这一报告委托进行的这次研究。

It found that the average person consumes as many as 1,769 particles of plastic every week just by drinking water -- bottled or from the tap. But there could be large regional variations. It quotes a 2018 study that found twice as much plastic in water in the United States and India than in European or Indonesian tap water.

研究发现仅通过饮用水每周人均塑料摄入量就高达1,769个颗粒，包括瓶装水和自来水。但可能存在很大的地区差异，研究中引用了2018年的研究，发现美国和印度水中的塑料含量是欧洲和印尼自来水的两倍。

A separate study this month found that Americans eat, drink and breathe between 74,000 and 121,000 microplastic particles each year, and those who exclusively drink bottled water rather than tap water can add up to 90,000 plastic particles to their yearly total.

本月还有一项研究发现美国人每年食用、饮用和吸入的塑料微粒数量为74,000至121,000，只喝瓶装水不喝自来水的人每年共摄入90,000塑料颗粒。

文章来源：沪江英语

图片来源：高品图像