{"id":655423,"date":"2026-05-21T00:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655423\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:15:13","slug":"lake-michigan-chicago-river-polluted-with-harmful-microplastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655423\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Michigan, Chicago River polluted with harmful microplastics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A test sampling of Lake Michigan, the Chicago River and other waterways across Illinois found tiny plastics present, posing potential threats to human health and damage to the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/environment\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">environment<\/a>, according to an advocacy group.<\/p>\n<p>In all, 31 test sites, including multiple samplings along Lake Michigan, showed broken-down plastics in the water. Known as microplastics, these small particles are being studied by government and academic researchers for possible links to illnesses, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.org\/cancer\/latest-news\/are-microplastics-linked-to-cancer.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">including cancer.<\/a> Plastics don\u2019t easily break down in the environment and also threaten fish and wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>Plastic food containers and bags, clothing fibers, pellets used in manufacturing and many other sources contribute to water pollution, according to <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/environmentamerica.org\/illinois\/center\/resources\/microplastic-in-illinois\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a report<\/a> released Thursday by Environment Illinois Research and Education Center.<\/p>\n<p>Single-use plastics, \u201cfast fashion\u201d trends and stormwater runoff from factories using plastic pellets are among the biggest sources of water contamination, the report says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no silver bullet solution to address this pervasive problem. Multiple policy changes at the local, state and federal level are needed to combat this,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n<p>In <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/springfield\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Springfield<\/a>, lawmakers are debating a bill that would require plastics manufacturers to better control stormwater runoff that potentially releases the contaminants into water.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois has taken small steps to control the pollution, including a measure signed into law in 2023 that bans polystyrene foam food containers at state buildings. Polystyrene is commonly known by the brand name Styrofoam. Some municipalities have similar laws.<\/p>\n<p>Other bodies of water found to have microplastics include the Calumet, Des Plaines, Fox, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Rock and Vermillion rivers, Busse Lake and Skokie Lagoons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile many of the waterways sampled had little to no visual litter at the point of access, our survey found that plastic is a nearly invisible constant in Illinois waters,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A test sampling of Lake Michigan, the Chicago River and other waterways across Illinois found tiny plastics present,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-655423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}