16,000 chemicals in plastic
4100 known to be hazardous
10,000 of these chemicals haven't been tested enough to know if they're harmful or not

Rising plastic production, rising chemical production - a rising sea of harmful chemicals all around us all the time.

Many chemicals are added to plastic as part of the production process. So, plastic pellets may be far from inert + harmless if sea creatures consume them.

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Testing carried out for Watershed, by scientist David Megson, found plastic pellets can absorb pollutants from water, passing them to animals who eat them. Particularly worrying if it is confirmed those at Camber Sands came from a wastewater treatment plant.

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Plastic pellets are readily mistaken by birds + fish for fish eggs - a food stuff for many species - one reason they're so risky for wildlife as Helena Dollimore, MP, explains on tonight's @channel4news.bsky.social

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Our story on the Drinking Water Inspectorate ordering water companies to act on PFAS in drinking water sources made it to BBC Radio 4 PM yesterday, with Prof Patrick Byrne explaining some of the ways forever chemicals can affect people's health. More here:

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An effect sometimes felt most keenly in small, rural rivers where there's much less water to dilute, for instance, the amount of chemicals, cleaning products + medicines you might find in a single sewage discharge + where the river may pass through pesticide treated fields.

The salmon population of the Wye is in collapse, and Atlantic salmon are now endangered in the UK. Those bringing the court case argue the needs of intensive farming cannot be permitted to outweigh the needs of fish, wildlife + river users.

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Jubb explains there's always been a balance between farming + river health, but the growing number of intensive chicken farms in the area has tipped that balance so that the river is losing out, fish are losing out, wildlife is losing out, businesses that rely on a thriving river are losing out:

Jubb describes the decline of the river really got going from 2016 onwards, when licenses for intensive chicken farms began to be granted in numbers not seen before - leading to a burden of phosphate + nitrate more than the river can process:

We spoke to Nathan Jubb, a fly fishing guide who's fished the Wye for 45 years. He describes the change he's seen in the river + the impact on fish:

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The Teddington Direct River Abstraction is designed to suck out water from the Thames during times of drought + transport it to the Lee Valley Reservoir to use as drinking water, replacing it with treated sewage effluent. Here, @eddavey.libdems.org.uk shares his views on the plan: