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> plastic is actually mostly just an aesthetic issue.

It's like saying burning oil is mostly bad because of the visual aspect of smog. It's not.

https://scholar.google.de/scholar?q=microplastic+endocrine+d...

https://scholar.google.de/scholar?q=microplastic+effect+on+h...

So far fish seem to be doing fine, though. Humans, too. I haven't heard of any mass extinction events because of plastic consumption.

There actually lots of other toxic and non-digestible things floating in the sea, not the least life forms who defend against predators by producing toxins. Therefore it seems unlikely that plastic will be that much worse.

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