Page - 208 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

regardlessofwhatmightbeexpressedasobjectiveandscientific truthbytheexpert community. The “yuck factor” is important in two types of scenarios where a modification to what is perceived as a “natural system” changes this system drastically, whether it is altering the genes in a plant or spreading of artificial objects such as plastic in the environment. First, if themodification is linkedwith a limited scientific understanding and communication about possible negative consequences, or second if the scientific understanding is conflicting with core values in society and therefore not accepted as trustworthy. 3 RiskPerceptionofPlasticPollutionand theRole ofStakeholders After this initial introductiontothefieldofriskperception, theremainingpartof the chapter will focus on how plastic pollution is perceived today and how future efforts with better integration of stakeholders might facilitate a better and more informed risk perception among citizens. However, prior to that we address the historical risk perceptionof plastic pollution. 3.1 HistoricalDevelopment Scientific focus on plastic pollution has increasedmarkedly over the last decades, especially since the turn on themillennium.The first notion of seabirds ingesting plasticdebriswaspublished in the1960s [12].At thispoint, research intoenviron- mental contaminationwith plastic debris was a small field, and few papers were published through the 1960s and 1970s (see [13–15]). However, Carpenter and Smith[16]were thefirst tonotice thatplasticaccumulated inspecificoceaniczone, in their Sciencepublicationofplastic debris in theSargassoSea. Itwas also in the 1970sthat thefirst reportsofbeachlitterwerepublished[17].Morefrequentreports onoccurrencewereconsistentlybeingpublishedfromthe1980s(e.g., [18,19]),and itwas in this decade that a systematically growing trend ofmarine pollutionwith plastic was first reported [20]. These findings initiated political discussions about the problem and were followed with political initiatives such as the MARPOL AnnexV aiming at reducing plasticwastes at sea [21]. However, theAnnexwas considered optional, and ratificationwas required byUNmember states before it enter into force in 1988 [21] (for a broader discussion on the regulation of microplastics, see [22]).Also in 1988 a report from theUSNationalOceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA)described theconcentrationofplasticdebris in theNorthPacificGyre.Thiswas later followedby theworkofMooreetal. [23], who compared abundance of plastic pellets and planktonic organism in theNorth PacificGyre. They concluded thatwhile planktonswere five times as abundant as 208 K.Syberg et al.