Thread by @elleprovocateur

2019: "a person's average micro-plastic consumption is between 70,000-121,000 particles per yr & rising for those who drank bottled water closer to 100,000."

Imagine plastic inhalation/consumption for those wearing #masks for past yr. #VirtueSignalling

scmp.com/news/china/sci…

"Disposable face masks (single use masks) are produced from polymers such as #polypropylene, #polyurethane, #polyacrylonitrile, #polystyrene, #polycarbonate, #polyethylene, or #polyester (Potluri and Needham, 2005)."

They shed. Plastic is inhaled/ingested. By adults & #children.

"This new emergence of #facemasks as environmental litter both in the terrestrial & aquatic environment is a piece of evidence that the global pandemic has not in any way reduced the challenge of increasing #plastic #pollution in the environment."

#Biodiversity #Ecology

"The presence of #plastics in the environment has also been reported as contributing significantly to #climatechange due to #carbon #emission & a greater risk to the global food chain (Reid et al., 2019; Shen et al., 2019)."

"Another implication of this indiscriminately disposed face masks in the environment is the possibility of acting as a medium for #disease outbreak, as #plastic particles are known to #propagate #microbes such as invasive #pathogens (Reid et al., 2019)."

"Plastic #pollution may be the next world #pandemic."

#ClimateEmergency #Biodiversity

Our ecological crises are exploited by corporate power & ruling class to save / reset suicidal system. #Covid19 has served as catalyst. Nothing more.

[Paper: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…]

"The promotion of #mask wearing [] has led to an extraordinary increase in the production of disposable masks: the [] #UNCTAD, estimates that global sales will total some $166 billion this year, up from around $800 million in 2019."

#capitalism

news.un.org/en/story/2020/…

"If historical data is a reliable indicator, [] 75% of the used #masks, as well as other pandemic-related #waste, will end up in landfills, or floating in the #seas."

#VirtueSignalling is contributing, in a massive way, to our planetary ecological crises.

Expect #Blowback