"Ocean Pollution: Plastic waste and toxic chemicals" by Andrew An

After the industrial revolution, ocean pollution is becoming a central problem to solve. The amount of pollutants in the ocean is increasing exponentially due to human activity. The whole underwater ecosystem is disturbed by this pollution, and it even affects humans in a lot of ways. 

While there are many different types of ocean pollution, plastic pollution and chemical pollution are the two major ones. Plastic pollution is caused by the plastic waste that people throw away anywhere. It goes into the ocean through streams, rivers, and drains, and causes a lot of problems under the water. The plastic waste can be eaten by marine organisms as they confuse it with the food source. This blocks their respiratory and digestive system, which might lead them to death. Moreover, it might restrict the motion of the organisms. The problem with microplastics is that it takes a lot of time for it to be broken down naturally. The plastic waste is converted into microplastics and remains in the ecosystem for a very long time. This can be eaten by marine organisms very easily as it is too small to be detected. As microplastics are non-biodegradable, it is not digested and remains in the body of the marine organism. As microplastics are toxic, this might cause a problem when large amounts of microplastics are accumulated. 

Another major pollutant is the chemicals. These chemicals are usually from the factories, and it includes heavy metals, oils, and fertilizers. These toxic chemicals disturb the underwater ecosystem by being consumed by some organisms. This might cause a lot of problems such as reproductive issues, developmental disorder, and suffocation. These chemicals also cause direct damage to coral reefs, causing it to bleach and die. As  coral reefs play a momentous impact on the whole marine ecosystem, by providing shelter and food source for other organisms, this can cause a major problem in the oceanic ecosystem. To sum up, the toxic chemicals decrease the biodiversity of the marine ecosystem by making some of them disabled, or even killing some of them, which might lead to the collapse of the whole oceanic ecosystem. 

These oceanic pollutants are having a significant negative impact on not only the organisms living under the ocean, but also humans. There is a high possibility that people are consuming seafood which has a lot of microplastics or chemicals in their body. As these pollutants come into our body, we can face a lot of medical problems. This is even more problematic due to biomagnification, which is the process where the concentration of the non-biodegradable pollutants increases as it goes up the food chain. Microplastic can cause inflammation or oxidative stress, and toxic chemicals can cause cancer or organ damage. As the ocean pollution is impacting both animals and humans severely, people should put their eyes onto this issue.