新研究發現：你每週吃掉一張信用卡大小的塑料

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

你可能每週吃掉一張信用卡大小的塑料

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

一項新研究顯示，在全球範圍內，我們每週平均吞下5g塑料，相當於一張信用卡大小。

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.

這些塑料污染物來自“塑料微粒”，就是小於5mm的顆粒，這些顆粒正在進入我們的食物、飲用水，甚至空氣中。

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.

澳大利亞紐卡斯爾大學進行的研究表明，在全世界人們每週吞下平均約2,000個塑料微粒。

圖片來源：視覺中國

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.

這些微小顆粒來源很廣，包括人造服裝纖維、一些牙膏中的微珠，或被丟棄後暴露在大自然中逐漸分解成小塊的大塊塑料。

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.

它們進入河流和大海，被魚和其他海洋動物吃掉，最後成爲食物鏈的一部分。

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

聯合首席研究員Kala Senathirajah對CNN說，塑料微粒在很多日常食物和飲料中都有，比如水、啤酒、貝類和鹽。

"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.

她說：“塑料微粒的問題明顯是全球問題，即使有些國家治理好了自己的環境，也並不意味着他們就安全了，因爲那些塑料微粒還可以從其他渠道過來。”

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.

研究表明人類攝取塑料的最大來源就是飲用水，研究參考了52個現有研究來估計全球的塑料攝入。

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

世界自然基金會（WWF）爲了《淨塑自然：評估人類從自然界攝取的塑料》這一報告委託進行的這次研究。

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.

研究發現僅通過飲用水每週人均塑料攝入量就高達1,769個顆粒，包括瓶裝水和自來水。但可能存在很大的地區差異，研究中引用了2018年的研究，發現美國和印度水中的塑料含量是歐洲和印尼自來水的兩倍。

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.

本月還有一項研究發現美國人每年食用、飲用和吸入的塑料微粒數量爲74,000至121,000，只喝瓶裝水不喝自來水的人每年共攝入90,000塑料顆粒。

翻譯：菲菲