Are dangerous plastics in Cayuga Lake and Erie Canal?
- Cornell grads take November paddleboard trip to sample the waters of Cayuga Lake and the Erie Canal
- Microscopic plastics can concentrate PCBs in the food chain
- Plastic Tides aims to raise awareness about increasing amounts of plastic in lakes and oceans
Christian Shaw and Gordon Middleton have been sampling Cayuga Lake and the Erie Canal for tiny pieces of plastic that have been widely found in waters all over the globe.
To take their samples, the Cornell University graduates rode catamaran paddle boards this month from Ithaca and aimed for Albany via Cayuga Lake and the Erie Canal, taking water samples along the way.
One goal is to look for micro beads of plastic that are an ingredient in some consumer products such as facial scrubs, shampoos and soaps and other health and beauty products. Microscopically small beads comprise from 1 percent to 4 percent of some products.
The pair are part of Plastic Tides, a small Ithaca based group that is looking to raise awareness about increasing amounts of plastic in lakes and oceans and their effects on the environment.
Shaw and Middleton left Ithaca Nov. 9 with the hope of reaching Albany in 10 days, camping along the way, but they were stopped by ice east of Little Falls on Nov. 19. The trip was a cold weather test for the pair who plan to do similar sampling in the Arctic and the Northwest Passage.
"So it's kind of getting our feet wet so to speak in terms of cold water, cold weather expedition although it's been colder than we've bargained for," Shaw said.
As the travel has been slower than anticipated, reducing the amount of sampling possible, the pair now will visit some locations by car to get a better set of samples.
The water samples will be tested by Sherri Mason, a chemistry professor at SUNY Fredonia. Mason has sampled the Great Lakes and has found plastic in all 19 species of fish that she has researched.
Particles range in size from microscopic to just less than a millimeter in diameter, and become repositories of poly chlorinated bi-phenols, a probable cause of cancer. According to Mason, PCBs are hydrophobic and look for surfaces to cling to and thus become part of the food chain when eaten by fish.
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