Media report on toxic chemicals found in plastic bags that affect fish
WLBZ (Channel 2) and the Associated Press reported University of Maine marine scientist Heather Hamlin and colleagues discovered that certain plastic bags with FDA food-grade approval leach nonylphenol (NP) in concentrations that are highly toxic to fish. The researchers found one type of bag commonly used to transport fish home from pet stores released NP into the water that the fish would ingest, according to the WLBZ report. The researchers said that in a little more than a week, the fish died, the report states. “In this one particular bag with this one particular manufacturer it was not safe, so it’s something in the manufacturing process,” Hamlin told WLBZ. “So if you went to buy this particular bag off the shelf it would be labeled identically to other bags but it just happens to be highly unsafe.” The Washington Times, Fosters.com, CBS Boston and WABI (Channel 5) carried the AP report. Phys.org published the UMaine release.