Good or Bad News for Scientists?

The article I read was Plastic Waste is a Hazard for Sub-alpine Lakes, Too by Hannes K. Imhof, Natalia P. Ivleva, Johannes Schmid, Reinhard Niessner and Christian Laforsch on Sciencedaily.com on October 7th, 2013. It was about how even though everyone thinks that this kind of lake is always clean, there is waste and pollution there as well. The research started at Lake Garda to investigate with micro/macro-plastics because they thought it wouldn't be as polluted as it really is. The studies of this lake came to a surprise to the researchers as the studies were similar to those of marine beach sediments. The research team discussed how there could be larger organisms in this lake. Organisms such as freshwater invertebrates like worms and water fleas could be found in these kinds of lakes. Christian Laforsch of the University of Bayreuth in Germany said "Next to mechanical impairments of swallowed plastics mistaken as food, many plastic-associated chemicals have been shown to be carcinogenic, endocrine-disrupting, or acutely toxic,moreover, the polymers can adsorb toxic hydrophobic organic pollutants and transport these compounds to otherwise less polluted habitats. Along this line, plastic debris can act as vector for alien species and diseases." This basically means that some kinds of plastic can be very hurtful by the organisms mistaking the plastic for food and eating it. This good new of more organisms living in this lake also come with bad news. There is a higher pollution rate at these lakes, so the finding of these organisms means they are at risk. Plastics in lowland waters is at a higher relevance than anywhere else. This is because of the public not caring. They just throw their trash in the lakes, not knowing what it does for the organisms in that lake. The plastic particles found in the lake were large from the beginning and originated from human products. I think this article makes us act more carefully than we usually would. Even if you can't see the organism, they could still be there. Instead of just throwing your trash somewhere, find a trashcan and throw it out correctly. The plastics we use everyday are hazardous to many organisms in these lakes and many other places. It is such a small act that nobody thinks about, but can save a lot of organisms in this world starting with a small lake.I agree with this article and how many organisms are dying because of human waste. There is always something you can do to help our planet and the smallest acts can help a lot.