{"id":718238,"date":"2026-06-22T00:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T00:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718238\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T00:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T00:19:11","slug":"great-waste-in-the-great-lakes-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718238\/","title":{"rendered":"Great waste in the Great Lakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 40 million people in the United States and Canada depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water. Each glass of treated lake water is laden with tiny bits of plastic \u2014 microplastics \u2014 made of toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases. Also contaminated are fish, staples of Midwestern fish fries and fish boils, and an important part of the diet of Indigenous tribes, certain immigrant populations and communities of color.<\/p>\n

Yet this pollution isn\u2019t regulated, and manufacturers are moving to dramatically increase the amount of plastics produced in the United States.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Tribune is exploring the plastics dilemma with a focus on the Great Lakes, the world\u2019s largest source of fresh surface water. When confronted about their pollution, industry executives often have blamed consumers, using tactics borrowed from and shared with Big Tobacco, according to a Tribune review of thousands of government, scientific and internal industry documents.<\/p>\n

This coverage, supported by the Pulitzer Center\u2019s StoryReach U.S. initiative<\/a>, will delve into the spread of plastic waste in the Great Lakes, research into health hazards and possible solutions.<\/p>\n

\"SherriSherri Mason, a Gannon University researcher, picks up plastic pellets, pieces barely larger than a grain of rice, that litter the ground where they are transferred from rail cars to trucks and delivered to local manufacturers on May 1, 2026, in Erie, Pennsylvania. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)
\nAs plastics clog the Great Lakes, industry presses to make more and downplays dangers, Tribune analysis finds<\/a><\/p>\n

When confronted about their pollution, industry executives often have blamed consumers, using tactics borrowed from and shared with Big Tobacco, according to a Chicago Tribune review of thousands of government, scientific and internal industry documents.<\/p>\n

Some of the world\u2019s most powerful companies downplay the dangers posed by plastics and overstate the ability to recycle them, the Tribune found. Read part 1.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ResearchResearch coordinator Roxanne Sawhill measures the waist of Jamie Headley, 6, of Urbana, during an Illinois Kids Development Study (IKIDS) microplastics test at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on June 18, 2026. Scientists at the Beckman Institute have been tracking levels of plastic-softening phthalates in the blood of children since before they were born up until age 11. (Josh Boland\/Chicago Tribune)
\nMicroplastics linger inside people and animals, multiple studies show. But regulation is still far off<\/a><\/p>\n

Scientists are particularly concerned about\u00a0microplastics, bits no larger than a grain of rice that could trigger heart and brain diseases and other ailments, either by their mere presence in people or from toxic chemicals leaching out of the particles.<\/p>\n

Scientists also are exploring whether microplastics contribute to or cause Parkinson\u2019s disease, impaired fertility, premature births, certain cancers and developmental problems in children. One example: University of Illinois researchers have been tracking the effects of plastics-related chemicals in more than 400 downstate kids since before they were born. Read part 2.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 40 million people in the United States and Canada depend on the Great Lakes for drinking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[45487,192,59503,21251,11743,79],"class_list":["post-718238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-drinking-water","tag-environment","tag-great-lakes","tag-microplastics","tag-plastic-pollution","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718238","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=718238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}