New research shows that some plastics may be leaching toxic chemicals into seawater.

    新研究表明有些塑料可能把有毒化學物滲入到海水。

    Plastic Not Fantastic… in the Ocean

    The Great Pacific Garbage Patch may be disappearing, and not in a good way. New research presented at the biannual meeting of the American Chemical Society reveals that polystyrene actually can break down in seawater.

    Polystyrene is better known as Styrofoam, wads of which can be found on seashores and floating out to sea. Most scientists assumed it would linger forever but apparently, when exposed to sunlight and rain, Styrofoam breaks down into its constituents, most notably three chemicals known to cause cancer.

    Japanese chemists found traces of these chemicals in samples of seawater from across the Pacific.

    They also found bisphenol A, or BPA, which is another chemical that leaches from some plastics. BPA has been linked to human health impacts, such as heart disease, as well as developmental and reproductive disorders in animals.

    Of course, these chemicals are diluted almost beyond detection by the vastness of the sea and not all plastics are exposed to strong sunlight or warm waters. But it's clear that the millions of tons of plastic pollution building up in the world's oceans are up to no good.

    在海洋中，塑料可不是什么好東西

    太平洋垃圾島（Great Pacific Garbage Patch）可能會消失，不過其消失的方式并不那么環(huán)保。在美國化學學會（American Chemical Society）一年兩度的會議上，一項新的研究顯示聚苯乙烯實際上在海水中能降解。

    人們更多的時候稱聚苯乙烯為泡沫塑料，你可以在海邊發(fā)現(xiàn)大量的泡沫塑料，它們會被沖進大海中。多數(shù)的科學家認為泡沫塑料將會永遠存在，但是很顯然，當暴露在陽光下和雨水中，泡沫塑料分解成它的組成成分，值得注意的是，有三種化學成分能致癌。

    日本化學家在整個太平洋的海水樣品中發(fā)現(xiàn)了恒量的這些致癌化學物質(zhì)。他們也發(fā)現(xiàn)了雙份A（簡稱BPA）,這是從塑料中滲出的另外一種化學物質(zhì)。BPA能影響人類的健康，比如心臟病以及動物的發(fā)展和生殖疾病。

    當然，由于大量海水的稀釋，要檢測出這些化學物質(zhì)幾乎不可能，同時也不是所有的塑料都暴露于強光下和溫水中。但是很顯然海洋中大量塑料污染的堆積肯定不是什么好事。

    Vocabulary:

    Leach:過濾；滲入；

    Toxic:有毒的

    Biannual:一年兩度的

    Fantastic:極好的

    Reveal: 揭示

    Polystyrene: （化學術語）聚苯乙烯

    Styrofoam: 泡沫塑料

    Wad:捆；沓；卷

    Linger:逗留

    Constituent:組成成分

    Trace:（化學術語）恒量

    Bisphenol:（化學術語）雙酚A

    Developmental:發(fā)展的

    Reproductive:生殖的

    Dilute:稀釋

    Detection:檢測

    Vastness:巨大；大量