Contact lenses are hazardous to nature. Free Technical Library News

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Contact lenses are dangerous for nature

23.08.2018

According to scientists, only US residents wash up to six tons of lenses a year down the drain. This seems to be a little, but we are talking about a material that is resistant to natural decomposition. Many people use contact lenses to improve their vision. This device, simple in modern times, does not last long: from several months to one day. And then they throw him out. Very often - flushing down the drain.

The researchers analyzed the likely future fate of the five polymers that make up the lenses. It turned out that, once in an environment populated by bacteria, the lenses slowly disintegrate into very small fragments, which, in the future, can be eaten by a variety of bottom dwellers, who, for millions of years of evolution, have not been taught to separate organic matter made by man from natural.

Since these plastics are actually indigestible, their entry into the food chain promises trouble for all further participants in it, up to people who will sooner or later end up with fish and seafood "with eyes".

The study participants hope that contact lens manufacturers will pay more attention to how their products are disposed of after use.

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