Plastic pollution leaves seabirds with brain damage similar to Alzheimer’s, study shows

Researchers have discovered that healthy-looking sable shearwater chicks, pictured, are experiencing brain damage through ingesting plastic. Photograph: Southern Lightscapes Australia/Getty Images

Ingesting plastic is leaving seabird chicks with brain damage “akin to Alzheimer’s disease”, according to a new study – adding to growing evidence of the devastating impact of plastic pollution on marine wildlife.

Analysis of young sable shearwaters, a migratory bird that travels between Australia’s Lord Howe Island and Japan, has found that plastic waste is causing damage to seabird chicks not apparent to the naked eye, including decay of the stomach lining, cell rupture and neurodegeneration.