With plastic use and its presence within the environment becoming more prevalent, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a bunch of scientists has discovered a latest disease in birds, which is caused completely by the consumption of plastic.

The study, published within the journal Hazardous Materials, aptly named the disease plasticosis. The characteristic feature of the disease is inflammation of the digestive tract in birds, which results in scarring with increased plastic consumption.

Though the disease was discovered in sea birds, specifically flesh-footed shearwaters from Australia’s Lord Howe Island, the scientists posit that the disease is prone to be present in other birds and organisms.

Within the study, scientists studied the connection between the quantity of plastic consumed and its effect on the proventriculus organ – the primary a part of a bird’s stomach, The Guardian reported.

Incredibly, researchers found a linear relationship between the extent of plastic ingested and the quantity of scarring caused.

Plasticosis may cause a gradual breakdown of tubular glands within the proventriculus. The improper functioning of those glands makes the birds vulnerable to infection and parasites in addition to affects their ability to digest food and absorb some vitamins, as per WioNews.

When microplastics make their way into the birds’ digestive tract, it results in inflammation. Persistent inflammation leads to scarred and disfigured tissues that affect digestion, growth and survival.

Within the study, microplastics were present in 30 flesh-footed shearwater birds, including 21 fledglings, just 80 and 90 days old, who had died recently. In a specific case, a bird had consumed 12.5 percent of its body weight in plastic, in keeping with the study.

To make it abundantly clear that the disease is brought on by the presence of plastic and never by other natural substances similar to pumice stones present in the stomachs of birds, scientists have named the disease after the fabric.

“While these birds can look healthy on the surface, they’re not doing well on the within. This study is the primary time that stomach tissue has been investigated in this fashion and shows that plastic consumption may cause serious damage to those birds’ digestive system,” Dr. Alex Bond, principal curator in command of birds on the Natural History Museum in London, said.

Researchers consider that each one organisms can be exposed to plastic eventually due to increasing levels of plastic emissions and plastic pollution in all environments worldwide.

“Further, the ingestion of plastic has far-reaching and severe consequences, lots of which we’re only just starting to completely document and understand,” researchers included.

In one other study, researchers have found micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) pass on from the moms to the unborn baby. “Petroleum-based plastics are usually not biodegradable, but weathering and photooxidation break them into tiny fragments. These tiny fragments, called micro-nano-plastics, are present in human lungs, placentas, and blood, raising human health concerns,” Philip Demokritou, the Henry Rutgers Chair and professor in nanoscience and environmental bioengineering on the Rutgers School of Public Health, said.