Teleconference: A Journey Across the Pacific to Raise Plastic Pollution Awareness

THE LONGEST SWIM: A JOURNEY ACROSS THE PACIFIC TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT PLASTIC POLLUTION will be held from 9 to 10am as part of the Alaska Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE-Alaska) teleconference seminar series. Long distance swimmer BEN LECOMTE will swim from Tokyo to San Francisco this fall. The 5,500-mile mission will take him along the edge of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area where some of the highest concentrations of microplastics have been measured. Confetti-sized microplastics and even smaller plastic microbeads (used as exfoliating agents in personal care products) are a growing environmental health concern because they attract and concentrate contaminants, including PCBs. Scientists are concerned that fish could easily confuse these polluted, plastic beads for food that could endanger both wildlife and the people who eat seafood. Presenters include: Long distance swimmer BEN LECOMTE; biological oceanographer Dr. LINDA AMARAL ZETTLER; REPRESENTATIVE ANDY JOSEPHSON. To join this free call, please sign up online or call Alaska Community Action on Toxics at (907) 222-7714