Is the world being destroyed?

"Alarming" levels of microplastic have been found in major rivers across Europe according to scientists in 14 studies published simultaneously Monday.

"The pollution is present in all European rivers" studied, said French scientist Jean-François Ghiglione, who coordinated the large-scale operation across nine major rivers from the Thames to the Tiber.

"Alarming" pollution of on average "three microplastics per cubic meter of water" was observed in all of them, according to the results published in the journal of Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

This is far from the 40 microplastics per cubic meter recorded in the world's 10 most polluted rivers—the Yellow River, Yangtze, Mekong, Ganges, Nile, Niger, Indus, Amur, Pearl and Hai—which irrigate countries where most plastic is produced or plastic waste is processed.

But this does not take into account the volume of water flowing.

3,000 particles per second

On the Rhone in Valence, France, the fast flow means there are "3,000 plastic particles every second", said Ghiglione. The Seine in Paris has around 900 per second.

"The mass of microplastics invisible to the naked eye is more significant than that of the visible ones," said Ghiglione—a result that "surprised" researchers. This was confirmed by analytical advances made during the studies, which began in 2019.

"Large microplastics float and are collected at the surface, while invisible ones are distributed throughout the water column and are ingested by many animals and organisms," said Ghiglione, head of research in marine microbial ecotoxicology at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Samples were collected from the mouths of the rivers Elbe, Ebro, Garonne, Loire, Rhone, Rhine, Seine, Thames and the Tiber by some 40 chemists, biologists and physicists from 19 research laboratories.


Industrial plastic granules known as 'mermaid tears' are scattered everywhere.

The researchers then made their way upstream until they reached the first major city on each of the waterways.

"Microplastics are smaller than a grain of rice," said Alexandra Ter Halle, a chemist at the CNRS in Toulouse, who took part in the analysis.

'Mermaid tears'

The particles are less than five millimeters in size, with the smallest invisible to the naked eye.

These include synthetic textile fibers from washing clothes and microplastics released from car tires or when unscrewing plastic bottle caps.

Researchers also found virgin plastic pellets, the raw granules used to manufacture plastic products.

One of the studies identified a virulent bacterium on a microplastic in the Loire in France, capable of causing infections in humans.

Another unexpected finding was that a quarter of microplastics discovered in rivers are not derived from waste but come from industrial plastic pellets.

These granules, dubbed "mermaid tears", can also sometimes be found scattered along beaches after maritime incidents.

"What we see is the pollution is diffuse and established" and "comes from everywhere" in the rivers, he added.

"The international scientific coalition we are part of (as part of international UN negotiations on reducing plastic pollution) is calling for a major reduction in the production of primary plastic because we know that plastic production is directly linked to pollution," he said.

Researchers say problem could increase number of people at risk of starvation by 400m in next two decades

The pollution of the planet by microplastics is significantly cutting food supplies by damaging the ability of plants to photosynthesise, according to a new assessment.

The analysis estimates that between 4% and 14% of the world’s staple crops of wheat, rice and maize is being lost due to the pervasive particles. It could get even worse, the scientists said, as more microplastics pour into the environment.

About 700 million people were affected by hunger in 2022. The researchers estimated that microplastic pollution could increase the number at risk of starvation by another 400 million in the next two decades, calling that an “alarming scenario” for global food security.

Other scientists called the research useful and timely but cautioned that this first attempt to quantify the impact of microplastics on food production would need to be confirmed and refined by further data-gathering and research.

The annual crop losses caused by microplastics could be of a similar scale to those caused by the climate crisis in recent decades, the researchers behind the new research said. The world is already facing a challenge to produce sufficient food sustainably, with the global population expected to rise to 10 billion by around 2058.

Microplastics are broken down from the vast quantities of waste dumped into the environment. They hinder plants from harnessing sunlight to grow in multiple ways, from damaging soils to carrying toxic chemicals. The particles have infiltrated the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans.

“Humanity has been striving to increase food production to feed an ever-growing population [but] these ongoing efforts are now being jeopardised by plastic pollution,” said the researchers, led by Prof Huan Zhong, at Nanjing University in China. “The findings underscore the urgency [of cutting pollution] to safeguard global food supplies in the face of the growing plastic crisis.”

People’s bodies are already widely contaminated by microplastics, consumed through food and water. They have been found in blood, brains, breast milk, placentas and bone marrow. The impact on human health is largely unknown, but they have been linked to strokes and heart attacks.

Prof Denis Murphy, at the University of South Wales, said: “This analysis is valuable and timely in reminding us of the potential dangers of microplastic pollution and the urgency of addressing the issue, [but] some of the major headline figures require more research before they can be accepted as robust predictions.”

The new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, combined more than 3,000 observations of the impact of microplastics on plants, taken from 157 studies.

Previous research has indicated that microplastics can damage plants in multiple ways. The polluting particles can block sunlight reaching leaves and damage the soils on which the plants depend. When taken up by plants, microplastics can block nutrient and water channels, induce unstable molecules that harm cells and release toxic chemicals, which can reduce the level of the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll.

The researchers estimated that microplastics reduced the photosynthesis of terrestrial plants by about 12% and by about 7% in marine algae, which are at the base of the ocean food web. They then extrapolated this data to calculate the reduction in the growth of wheat, rice and maize and in the production of fish and seafood.

Asia was hardest hit by estimated crop losses, with reductions in all three of between 54m and 177m tonnes a year, about half the global losses. Wheat in Europe was also hit hard as was maize in the United States. Other regions, such as South America and Africa, grow less of these crops but have much less data on microplastic contamination.

In the oceans, where microplastics can coat algae, the loss of fish and seafood was estimated at between 1m and 24m tonnes a year, about 7% of the total and enough protein to feed tens of millions of people.

The scientists also used a second method to assess the impact of microplastics on food production, a machine-learning model based on current data on microplastic pollution levels. It produced similar results, they said.

“Importantly, these adverse effects are highly likely to extend from food security to planetary health,” Zhong and his colleagues said. Reduced photosynthesis due to microplastics may be also cutting the amount of climate-heating CO2 taken from the atmosphere by the huge phytoplankton blooms in the Earth’s oceans and unbalancing other ecosystems.

Prof Richard Lampitt, at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, said the conclusions should be treated with caution. “I have considerable concerns about the quality of the original data used by the model and this has led to overspeculation about the effects of plastic contamination on food supplies,” he said. The researchers acknowledged that more data was needed and said this would produce more accurate estimates.

The world’s nations failed to reach an agreement on a UN treaty to curb plastic pollution in December, but will restart the talks in August. The scientists said their study was “important and timely for the ongoing negotiations and the development of action plans and targets”.

Prof Richard Thompson, at the University of Plymouth said the new study added to the evidence pointing towards the need for action. “While the predictions may be refined as new data become available, it is clear … that we need to start towards solutions. Ensuring the treaty addresses microplastic pollution is of key importance,” he said.

Climate-warming carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere grew at a record-breaking speed in 2024, surging by 3.7 parts per million, a recent NOAA data analysis has found.

It’s one of the agency’s biggest scientific findings of the year — yet the research largely has flown under the radar after NOAA officials took steps to minimize the announcement.

Instead of publishing a press release or a featured article online, the agency described the findings only in social media posts on Facebook and on X. And the posts failed to highlight the dataset’s most important finding: that last year’s CO₂ concentrations jumped by an unprecedented amount.

That’s a departure from the agency’s historical approach to public communication. NOAA typically releases a public report each spring, prominently featured on its website, describing the previous year’s greenhouse gas concentrations. It also usually sends a press release to members of the media.

Last year’s report, for instance, noted that carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide concentrations all continued to climb in the atmosphere in 2023.

According to a source with knowledge of the 2024 analysis, NOAA staff prepared a public web story this year as usual. But officials nixed the report at the last minute, instead releasing the findings only on social media. The source was granted anonymity because they feared reprisal from the Trump administration.

A NOAA communications officer did not respond to a request for comment.

The move is part of a broader assault on NOAA science and public communications by the new administration.

Last month, the agency confirmed it was ending its regular monthly climate briefings, in which NOAA scientists presented climate and weather data to the media. That's on top of widespread layoffs this year at the agency. And a recent proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget would dramatically reorganize the agency and terminate much of its climate work — eliminating its entire Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

A NOAA official suggested that downplaying the new CO₂ data has dampened media attention on what otherwise would have been a major climate headline. The scientific findings were reported earlier this month by The Washington Post, and the suppressed web story was reported by CNN earlier this week. There’s otherwise been little news reported on the subject.

But scientists say it’s a finding that’s worth more attention — and more worry. Some researchers believe last year’s CO₂ spike is evidence that the Earth system itself is becoming more vulnerable to the impacts of rising temperatures.

Natural landscapes, such as forests and wetlands, historically have acted as a carbon sink — soaking up excess CO₂ emissions and helping to offset some of the impacts of climate change. But some of these ecosystems may be breaking down under the stress of continued warming, with the added side effects of droughts and wildfires. And they’re storing less carbon in the process.

“In my opinion, there is no reason to believe that this will not continue with further dry years in the future,” said Philippe Ciais, a climate scientist at the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace in France.

Ciais was not involved with the NOAA analysis, but he co-authored a recent preliminary study — not yet peer-reviewed — investigating the reasons for high CO₂ growth in 2023 and the first half of 2024. The study included a variety of real-life data sources, including satellite measurements, as well as complex Earth system models. And it found that some of the Earth’s natural carbon sinks are declining.

The tropics, in particular, began to lose an unusually high amount of carbon beginning in the middle of 2023, Ciais said. That’s due in part to an increase in drought and wildfires in places such as the Amazon. Those losses continued into 2024 — and while the study’s timeline ends at the beginning of last July, Ciais suspects they’ve probably continued into 2025 as well.

The effects are partly due to the influence of El Niño, a natural climate cycle that causes periodic drying in the tropics. But that can’t explain everything. For one thing, the recent El Niño was not particularly strong compared with some other recent events. And it also ended in the first half of 2024, while dry conditions persisted in the tropics for the rest of the year.

More studies are needed to fully understand what happened in 2024. But Ciais and other scientists are worried last year’s events could point to a kind of climate feedback loop in which rising temperatures cause natural ecosystems to deteriorate, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere and causing the planet to warm even faster.

“With one year you cannot say that all the future will be lost,” Ciais cautioned.

But he’s worried the Earth might be on track to warm more rapidly than some scientists — and world leaders — expect. Many climate models don’t account for an increasingly rapid breakdown of Earth’s natural ecosystems, accelerated by wildfires, droughts, pests and other climate-related disasters.

Meanwhile, studies have found that fossil fuel emissions also reached a record high in 2024. Those emissions can’t account for last year’s CO₂ surge all on their own. But they’re part of the puzzle, and a major indicator that the world is not tackling global warming quickly enough to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate goals.

“The policy goals say, well, we still have some time to reach 2 degrees,” Ciais said. “But all these predictions are based on the fact that the carbon absorption will stay good.”

Abstract

Land subsidence is a slow-moving hazard with adverse environmental and socioeconomic consequences worldwide. While often considered solely a coastal hazard due to relative sea-level rise, subsidence also threatens inland urban areas, causing increased flood risks, structural damage and transportation disruptions. However, spatially dense subsidence rates that capture granular variations at high spatial density are often lacking, hindering assessment of associated infrastructure risks. Here we use space geodetic measurements from 2015 to 2021 to create high-resolution maps of subsidence rates for the 28 most populous US cities. We estimate that at least 20% of the urban area is sinking in all cities, mainly due to groundwater extraction, affecting ~34 million people. Additionally, more than 29,000 buildings are located in high and very high damage risk areas, indicating a greater likelihood of infrastructure damage. These datasets and information are crucial for developing ad hoc policies to adapt urban centers to these complex environmental challenges.

Millions of kilometers of rivers around the world are carrying antibiotic pollution at levels high enough to promote drug resistance and harm aquatic life, a McGill University-led study warns.

Published in PNAS Nexus, the study is the first to estimate the scale of global river contamination from human antibiotics use. Researchers calculated that about 8,500 tons of antibiotics—nearly one-third of what people consume annually—end up in river systems around the world each year even after, in many cases, passing through wastewater systems.

"While the amounts of residues from individual antibiotics translate into only very small concentrations in most rivers, which makes them very difficult to detect, the chronic and cumulative environmental exposure to these substances can still pose a risk to human health and aquatic ecosystems," said Heloisa Ehalt Macedo, a postdoctoral fellow in geography at McGill and lead author of the study.

The research team used a global model validated by field data from nearly 900 river locations. They found that amoxicillin, the world's most-used antibiotic, is the most likely to be present at risky levels, especially in Southeast Asia, where rising use and limited wastewater treatment amplify the problem.

"This study is not intended to warn about the use of antibiotics—we need antibiotics for global health treatments—but our results indicate that there may be unintended effects on aquatic environments and antibiotic resistance, which calls for mitigation and management strategies to avoid or reduce their implications," said Bernhard Lehner, a professor in global hydrology in McGill's Department of Geography and co-author of the study.

The findings are especially notable because the study did not consider antibiotics from livestock or pharmaceutical factories, both of which are major contributors to environmental contamination.

"Our results show that antibiotic pollution in rivers arising from human consumption alone is a critical issue, which would likely be exacerbated by veterinary or industry sources of related compounds," said Jim Nicell, an environmental engineering professor at McGill and co-author of the study. "Monitoring programs to detect antibiotic or other chemical contamination of waterways are therefore needed, especially in areas that our model predicts to be at risk."

Amongst the revelations in the comprehensive evaluation is that plastics in soil may be exposed to up to 10,000 chemical additives, most of which are unregulated in agriculture.

“These microplastics are turning food-producing land into a plastic sink,” said PhD candidate Joseph Boctor, who led the study.

Both microplastics and nanoplastics have now been found in lettuce, wheat and carrot crops. This happens through various means, from plastic mulching, fertilisers and even through being dropped by clouds.

This is particularly concerning when combined with findings of these plastics in the human lungs, brain, heart, blood, and even placenta.

“And BPA-free does not equal risk free,” Mr Boctor said.

“Replacement chemicals like BPF and BPS show comparable or greater endocrine-disrupting activity.”

The challenge is that regulations are slower than science, and industry is faster than both.

In addition to this, assessing additive toxicity is often overlooked, Mr Boctor said, due to the lack of transparency in the plastic industry and large number of additives produced.

“This makes the plastic crisis unchecked, and human health exposed,” he said.

“This review tries to bring this creeping danger under the radar and shine a flashlight on regulators.”

Alongside endocrine disruptors, the review pinpointed other additives in soil such as Phthalates (linked to reproductive issues), and PBDEs (neurotoxic flame retardants).

These additives have been linked with neurodegenerative disease, increased risks of stroke and heart attack and early death.

“These are not distant possibilities – they are unfolding within biological systems – silently and systematically,” Mr Boctor said.

To address this crisis, Mr Boctor is working alongside his colleagues at the Bioplastics Innovation Hub to create a type of plastic that is not only safe, but also decomposes in soil, land and water, leaving behind no legacy.

One innovation currently under development is the Smart Sprays Project - which will demonstrate and test a non-toxic, bioplastic-based spray for soil which forms a water barrier to harvest rainfall and reduce evaporation that can be easily applied with existing farm equipment.

The hope is that through the Hub's work, they will introduce a green plastic to the market that will minimise and eventually negate the need for non-sustainable plastic production worldwide.

“This review highlights the urgent need for coordinated scientific and regulatory efforts,” Joseph said.

“Regulators, scientists and industry must collaborate to close the loopholes before plastic pollution further entrenches itself in the global food chain."

Wildfires engulfed vast swathes of South America last year, devastating ecosystems, closing schools and grounding flights. With its worst fire season on record, Bolivia was especially hard hit. “We felt powerless and angry to be unable to protect what is ours,” says Isabel Surubí Pesoa.

Surubí Pesoa was forced to migrate to the nearest town after the spring that fed her village in Bolivia’s eastern lowlands dried up after the fires and the drought that preceded it. “It’s very painful,” she says.

Large ranches and farms often use fire to clear land for crops or to graze cattle. Chronic drought, fuelled by the climate crisis and El Niño weather patterns, combined with weak environmental governance, made it easy for these fires to spread out of control, destroying forests and grasslands.

Industrial-scale land clearances without fire is also a major cause of deforestation, undermining the resilience of communities and ecosystems alike.

With insufficient local and national government support, many people are left to battle fires with little more than shovels and small water bottles. “As elected officials, we feel impotent,” says Verónica Surubí Pesoa, a city councillor in San Javier and Isabel’s sister.

Forest loss in Bolivia and across Latin America is part of a broader worldwide trend. New data released earlier this week by World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch found that global forest loss reached record highs in 2024, with almost twice as much tropical primary forest lost in 2024 as in the year before. That is equal to an area larger than Ireland.

Deforestation in the Amazon means warmer temperatures and decreased rainfall, with consequences for farmers and food production. When fire is involved – as it increasingly is – communities report issues from water pollution and smoke, which might increase lung cancer and susceptibility to infections, to disruption to education when schools are forced to close.

“When people live in the middle of thousands of burnt hectares, of course, it’s not going to be a healthy environment,” says Iván Arnold, director of the Bolivian environmental organisation Fundación Nativa.

Historically heavy rainfall followed Bolivia’s drought and fires in 2024, flooding towns and destroying crops. In the Surubí community, in the country’s tropical dry forest region, they disrupted growing seasons and damaged roads and bridges, further complicating recovery efforts.

Fire – which is not a natural part of tropical ecosystems, as it is in much of Australia, for example – was the leading cause of the loss of tropical primary forest for the first time recorded. Forest loss in tropical regions is especially grave as these ecosystems are some of the world’s most biodiverse and serve as key carbon sinks.

The greenhouse gas emissions from tropical primary forests lost in 2024 alone exceeded the annual carbon emissions of India. Major fires swept Canada and Russia’s boreal forests as well, and overall tree cover loss reached all-time highs across the globe.

Peter Potapov, co-director of the University of Maryland’s GLAD Lab, which collected the data, says: “If this trend continues, it could permanently transform critical natural areas and unleash large amounts of carbon – intensifying climate change and fuelling even more extreme fires.”

Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of Global Forest Watch, which has analysed the report, says the data is a “global red alert” to the international community. “It’s a global red alert,” she says.

Although the loss of vegetation occurs across the world, Latin America has witnessed much of this catastrophe with Brazil losing the most tropical primary forest of any country. The Amazon biome saw its worst decline since 2016, with primary forest loss more than doubling, driven by fires and agricultural expansion.

After a dip in 2023, Colombia’s primary forest loss rose by 50% in 2024, though fires were not the main driver. Joaquin Carrizosa, an adviser for World Resources Institute Colombia, says: “Most of the deforestation dynamics are associated with larger macro-criminal networks interconnected through the basin and … with other countries. This is not just a Colombian problem.”

Loss of primary forest surged elsewhere across Latin America. Fires were the biggest cause in Belize, Guyana, Guatemala and Mexico. Nicaragua lost nearly 5% of its primary forest in 2024 – the highest proportion of any country.

Bolivia’s primary forest loss increased by 200%, reaching 15,000 sq km (6,000 sq miles) in 2024. For the first time, it ranked second to Brazil in tropical primary forest loss and surpassed the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has more than twice its forest area.

This “signals that Bolivia has become a major driver of the global climate and ecological crisis,” says Stasiek Czaplicki Cabezas, a Bolivian environmental economist.

Czaplicki Cabezas says the expansion of industrial-scale farming and cattle ranching, weak enforcement and oversight of environmental regulations, and a legal and political framework that values land conversion over protecting forests drove the increase in Bolivia.

“What makes 2024 particularly severe is the convergence of these structural drivers with a deepening ecological and economic crisis,” he says.

Isabel Surubí Pesoa says of the latest data: “We’re the guardians of our territory, but this is out of our hands.”

Yet, the data showed some successes. In Bolivia’s southern Chaco region, Indigenous communities, public institutions, civil society organisations and volunteer firefighters banded together to protect the tract of land that spans national parks and Indigenous territories.

After a devastating 2019 fire season, they invested in early warning systems and enforced land-use policy better. It helped them successfully fight back the wall of flame that had enveloped nearby areas in 2024 and 2023.

Collaboration across sectors was fundamental, says Arnold, whose Fundación Nativa supported the effort. Just as crucial were the local monitors – mostly Indigenous Guaraní park rangers – who know the area and track conditions all year to enable a fast response.

“What’s important is not just acting when there’s a fire,” he says, “but preparing in the off-season.”

In San Javier, Isabel and Verónica Surubí Pesoa are looking towards the next fire season. The organisation of Indigenous women Isabel leads is holding workshops to train women in fire prevention and management, and a municipal strategy is being drawn up.

They are also seeking support from conservation organisations to equip a local fire brigade, as the group has no boots, helmets or fire-resistant clothing.

“Last year, we often went to fight the fires in shoes or sandals, and the fire burned them quickly,” she says. “We’re fighting so we don’t have to suffer the fires again.”

23 May, PARIS – Infectious animal diseases are affecting new areas and species, undermining global food security, human health and biodiversity, according to the first State of the World’s Animal Health report.

The new annual assessment, published by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), provides the first comprehensive review of animal disease trends, risks and challenges, from the uptake and availability of vaccines to the use of antibiotics in animals. Released ahead of WOAH’s 92nd General Session and its Animal Health Forum – where leading experts will gather to discuss vaccination and innovation in disease prevention – the report sets the stage for high-level discussions on how science-based vaccination strategies and emerging technologies can help address current and future animal health threats through a One Health approach.

Among its findings, the report revealed the reported number of avian influenza outbreaks in mammals more than doubled last year compared to 2023 with 1,022 outbreaks across 55 countries compared to 459 outbreaks in 2023.

The authors highlighted that, while the risk of human infection remains low, the more mammalian species such as cattle, cats or dogs infected, the greater the possibility of the virus adapting to mammal-to-mammal, and potentially human, transmission.

“The spread, prevalence and impact of infectious animal diseases is changing, bringing new challenges for agriculture and food security, human health and development, and natural ecosystems,” said Dr. Emmanuelle Soubeyran, Director General of WOAH.

Bird flu, or high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI), which has caused the culling or loss of more than 630 million birds in the last two decades was one of several animal diseases to affect new areas last year.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), which has traditionally affected sheep and goats in developing countries, has re-emerged in Europe while Africa swine fever (ASF) reached Sri Lanka, travelling more than 1,800 km from the nearest outbreaks, the report found.

Almost half of the WOAH-listed diseases notified to WOAH between 2005 and 2023 were considered a threat to human health with zoonotic, or animal-to-human infection, potential.

The report cited climate change and increased trade among the factors influencing the spread and prevalence of animal diseases. Many are preventable through a combination of vaccination, improved hygiene and biosecurity measures, but the report noted that access to animal vaccines remains uneven around the world.

“Alongside other measures, vaccination remains one of the most powerful disease prevention tools available, saving countless lives, preventing economic losses and reducing the need for antimicrobial treatments,” Dr. Soubeyran added.

“To limit the spread of highly damaging diseases like avian influenza, foot and mouth disease and PPR, the global community must strengthen international cooperation and ensure equitable access to safe, effective vaccines, alongside other control measures.”

Since 2006, WOAH has supported access to animal vaccines through its vaccine banks and currently operates two, one for rabies and one for PPR. As of May 2025, the WOAH Rabies Vaccine Bank has delivered almost 30 million dog vaccines to countries in Africa and Asia. However, progress towards ending rabies has stalled in recent years, with the percentage of countries reporting implementing control measures falling from 85 per cent to 62 per cent.

The report also emphasised the importance of disease prevention for reducing the need for antibiotic treatment and limiting the development of drug-resistant diseases.

By 2050, antimicrobial resistance is projected to cause livestock losses that jeopardise the food security of two billion people and result in a US$ 100 trillion economic loss if urgent action is not taken.

The latest figures indicate that antimicrobial use, including antibiotics, in animals fell five per cent between 2020 and 2022, with use in Europe seeing the biggest decline of 23 per cent, followed by Africa at 20 per cent. However, one in five countries continue to use antimicrobials as growth promoters, which is discouraged by WOAH.

“The indiscriminate use of antimicrobials contributes to antimicrobial resistance, which is a major threat to both animal and human health,” said Dr. Javier Yugueros-Marcos, Head of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Veterinary Products Department at WOAH. “The declining use of antibiotics in almost all regions is encouraging but further reductions can be achieved by prioritising preventative measures against animal diseases, with vaccination as an essential component of these.” 

WOAH calls for investments to strengthen national Veterinary Services, greater global and regional coordination and improved disease surveillance systems to scale up effective disease control. This includes developing and implementing advanced diagnostic tools to differentiate between vaccinated and infected animals, enabling accurate disease tracking and trade transparency.

Plastic pollution is harming slugs, beetles, snails and earthworms, new research has found, raising fears Britain’s entire food chain has been contaminated.

Researchers found more than one in ten bugs had fragments of plastic in their stomachs, causing harmful chemicals to be passed on to larger animals that feed on them, like birds and hedgehogs.

The study, by scientists at Sussex and Exeter universities, analysed more than 580 bug samples from 51 sites across Sussex.

Microplastics were found in almost 12 per cent of bugs with the highest levels recorded in earthworms (30 per cent) and slugs and snails (24 per cent).

Polyester, most likely from clothes, was the most common type of plastic found in the invertebrates tested.


Researchers suspected these plastic fibres came from dried human sewage sludge which is used as fertiliser by some farmers and can contain fibres from washing machines.

One common garden black beetle was found with a 4.5mm long piece of nylon inside it- that's a quarter of its body length.

Although animals that feed on decaying plant matter had the highest rates of plastic, carnivorous insects, such as ladybirds, were also affected.

Researchers say the findings raise fresh concerns about the long-term effects of plastic pollution and its impact on biodiversity and that it should no longer be seen as solely a marine issue.

“We were surprised by just how widespread this plastic contamination is,” said lead author Emily Thrift, Ecology Doctoral Tutor at the University of Sussex.

“This is the first study to find plastics consistently turning up across an entire community of land invertebrates.

“Similar plastic types were found in hedgehog faeces in our earlier research, and they seem to be entering the diet of birds, mammals, and reptiles via their invertebrate prey.”

One previous study on insects from 2024 revealed ingesting plastic can lead to stunted growth, reduced fertility and changes in liver, kidney, and stomach function in various species, raising alarm among conservationists.

In another 2020 study published in the journal Global Change Biology, dippers, a type of small bird, were found to be ingesting about 200 plastic particles a day from the insects they eat. Three in four of the fragments found in the birds were less than 0.5mm in size but were up several millimetres in length.

Professor Fiona Mathews, Environmental Biologist at the University of Sussex, stressed that microplastics are now found in every level of the food chain, from bugs to mammals.

She said: ‘Attention is currently focused on litter as the main source of contamination, but these findings suggest multiple sources ranging from clothing to paint.”

The researchers say their work, which spans six invertebrate groups and four levels of the food chain, highlights the need to research how these different plastics are damaging the environment and implement stronger measures to limit plastic pollution.