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HONOLULU (AP) — A new study estimates nearly 270,000 tons of plastic is floating in the world's oceans.
The study in the scientific journal PLOS ONE says the plastic is broken up into more than 5 trillion pieces. Together, it enough to fill more than 38,500 garbage trucks.
And that's just the plastic floating on the surface. Plastic that's sunk to the ocean floor wasn't included.
Studying the amount of plastic in the ocean will help scientists understand how the material is affecting fish, seabirds and the larger marine ecosystem.
Kara Lavender Law of the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, who wasn't involved in the study, says little is known right now about how plastic ingested by creatures at lower levels of the food chain might be passed along. But she says studies like this might eventually help answer the question: "Am I being poisoned by eating the fish on my plate?"
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087-c-14-(Audrey McAvoy, AP correspondent)-"about five trillion"-AP correspondent Audrey McAvoy reports a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE estimates the amount of plastic floating in the world's oceans. (11 Dec 2014)
<<CUT *087 (12/11/14)££ 00:14 "about five trillion"
088-c-16-(Audrey McAvoy, AP correspondent)-"in the ocean"-AP correspondent Audrey McAvoy reports scientists estimate there are nearly 270,000 tons of plastic floating in the world's oceans. (11 Dec 2014)
<<CUT *088 (12/11/14)££ 00:16 "in the ocean"
APPHOTO LA115: FILE - This file 2008 photo provided by NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center shows debris in Hanauma Bay, Hawaii. A new study estimates nearly 270,000 tons of plastic is floating in the world's oceans. That's enough to fill more than 38,500 garbage trucks if each truck carries 7 tons of plastic. The figure appears in a study published, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. Researchers say the plastic is broken up into more than 5 trillion pieces. (AP Photo/NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, File) (10 Dec 2014)
<<APPHOTO LA115 (12/10/14)££
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