Face mask swallowed by sea turtle caught off Japan coast

So glad they were able to rescue that face mask. Darn turtles think they can do whatever they want.

Hideshige Takada, a professor at the same university who was also involved in the study, said the findings suggest that marine life is being exposed to chemical substances through the accidental ingestion of plastic debris.

damned clever these profs!!!!

Poor turtle. He had to poop out a mask!

Not an Abe-no-mask. He can't be blamed for that.

But discarded masks can be found all over Japan, cities, towns, countryside and tourist spots.

Strange headline! It reads like the face mask was caught.

Face masks are the new plastic in the ocean.

So sad to see so many discarded masks on the streets, near the rivers. So easy to take home and dispose of.

Japan one of the few countries that actually provide trash cans on the street. then they wonder why people just throw their trash in the gutter. expect people to carry their trash with them all day

Dispose of properly.

I don't understand how or why people discard masks in the street.

If you're outside, you're wearing your mask; you don't drop it, and if you do, you notice you've dropped it so you can pick it up again. You need it anyway, so it makes no sense to just drop it in the street.

Are people just 'losing' their masks and then rushing into shops to buy new ones to continue their day?

Face masks don’t work because the virus is so minuscule like a ping pong ball passing through a house window.

Face masks don’t work because the virus is so minuscule like a ping pong ball passing through a house window.

Completely wrong. Not only face masks do work (corroborated both epidemiologically and experimentally) but it is well understood how they work since decades ago.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452199X20301481

https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/977685/

Your mistake is double, first is thinking viral particles float around by themselves when actually they are immersed in much bigger liquid particles, the second is thinking filters work by mechanical obstruction of the particles being bigger than the space in the mask, in reality things like gravity, electrostatic attraction or even thermal forces are involved in the filtration.

cleo:

Are people just 'losing' their masks and then rushing into shops to buy new ones to continue their day?

I wouldn't say they're all losing their masks. I've seen plenty hanging on trees. These people really should be made to eat them.

What was caught? The sea turtle or the face mask? Does anyone proofread these headlines? Maybe get a native English speaker to tackle this sort of thing hey?

That is far from correct. Where do you live?

i made a typo meant to say

Japan one of the few countries that doesnt provide trash cans on the street.

then they wonder why people just throw their trash in the gutter. expect people to carry their trash with them all day. the only place you can easily throw your trash is a convenient store, sad that a private company has to provide the service the government should be

wtfjapan

Japan one of the few countries that doesnt provide trash cans on the street.

I think you'll find that in Japan you're expected to take your rubbish home (or not produce any - hence the societal ban on eating on the streets) instead of being able to dispose of it out in the public eye. Therefore it's very difficult to find a rubbish bin out on the streets.

Isn’t a discarded mask a biohazard these days?

Not Mr Turtle! Don't eat the mask be the mask. Become it , let it unfold before your face and may it grace your lips with its two ply sheets.

This is horrible but really not unexpected nor surprising.

The more disposable items people are carrying around on their person, the more likely it's going to find itself in the environment through improper disposal. People that are going to pollute, will pollute.

Give a hoot. Don't pollute.

One good argument against plastic masks.

One good argument against littering

Fixed it for ya.