Featured Image Credit: Fox5 New York
Topics: Climate Change, Donald Trump, Environment, Shark, Politics, News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Climate Change, Donald Trump, Environment, Shark, Politics, News
Donald Trump is bringing back plastic straws despite there being evidence to suggest they're contributing to climate change.
Last year, the Biden administration outlined its plans to abolish the use of plastic straws by 2027 with global warming and pollution in mind.
But Trump branded the plans as 'ridiculous' and criticized the more environmentally friendly alternative – paper straws.
"These things don't work, I've had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode," Trump said. "If something's hot, they don't last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It's a ridiculous situation."
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Now, Trump has signed an executive order that will see the US shift back to using single-use plastic straws.
According to Condor Ferries, 50 million straws are used by Americans every day, 7.5 million of which pollute US coastlines.
But Trump has an apparent solution for this issue — sharks.
While eating straws is not part of a shark's healthy diet (or any marine animals'), Trump's 'fix' for any plastic straws ending up in the ocean is that sharks will eat them.
Speaking as he signed the order yesterday (February 11), Trump said: "I don’t think that plastic is going to affect the shark very much as they’re eating, as they’re munching their way through the ocean."
While Trump has a somewhat nonchalant view when it comes to sharks and plastic pollution, the Marine Megafauna Foundation has previously highlighted the harmful affects plastics in the ocean, such as straws, has on sharks and rays in particular.
"Plastic waste, regardless of whether it was originally a fishing net or a toothbrush, does not disappear over time – rather, it will break up into smaller and smaller pieces," its website states.
"These tiny, toxic pieces of plastic, now ubiquitous throughout the ocean, are impossible for animals to avoid. While plastic fragments have been found in the stomachs of many sharks and rays, accidental ingestion by large filter-feeders such as Manta Rays, Whale Sharks, and Basking Sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) is a particular concern."
"Blockages and internal injuries from ingestion can be lethal," it adds.
The Save Our Seas Foundation also says that digested plastic can 'cause physical damage to the digestive tracts and other internal tissues in sharks', leading to 'internal injuries complications and death in case of long-term exposure'.
And it's not just the plastics themselves that post a threat, but the chemical pollutants they absorb which are then offloaded onto animals, like sharks and rays, after they've been ingested by them.
"Upon ingestion, these chemicals can leach into the animals' tissue," said the foundation. "In other ocean wildlife groups, such as marine mammals, this is believed to suppress their reproduction.
"For sharks and rays that are already threatened with extinction, [...] the possibility of a similar inhibitory effect is a significant concern."
A 2020 study into UK sharks showed that 67 percent of them had ingested microplastics and man-made fibres, according to the Marine Conservation Society, with the lead author Kristian Parton said that the impact of plastic pollution on sharks was 'understudied'.