Plastic contamination wide spread in goats

Scientists have discovered widespread plastic contamination and other indigestible foreign bodies (IFBs) in smallholding goats which they suspect is contributing to livestock losses.

The discovery followed a study which the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) conducted with researchers at Northern Ireland’s Queen’s University of Belfast, South Africa’s University of Pretoria and United Kingdom based Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute. 

The research findings published by Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institutes say that 80.7 percent of all butchers identify plastics in slaughtered goats.

“In this study, we aimed to profile the distribution and scale of IFBs among slaughtered goats at Malawi markets across the country.

“Plastics were found to be extremely common, found by 80.7 percent of all butchers and in 25.6 percent of all recently slaughtered goats,” reads the research paper on www.mdpi.com.

Titled Prevalence of Plastic and Hardware among Goats at Malawi Markets, the study sought to survey the frequency of plastic and other indigestible foreign bodies among goats slaughtered by informal markets.

“Other than plastic, the prevalence of hardware was surprisingly high, with sharp items recovered by butchers including needles, pins, nails, and bicycle spokes…

“Hardware overall was present in 7.3 percent of goats, which is high, but not far out of step with other studies,” the document further reads.

The paper calls for reduction in plastics and foreign bodies intake among goats through taming refuse pollution.

“A sustainable and incentivised approach to control refuse pollution in Malawi is desperately needed as refuse undoubtedly has a negative impact on many other livestock and other aspects of rural life and well-being, including human health,” it reads.

Goat smallholdings are common in both rural and urban areas of Malawi, kept as a food source and as investments.

Reacting to the findings, environmentalist Julius Ng’oma said the study has “conformed some of the worst fears and realities about thin plastics.

“Environmental pollution is a big issue globally and in Malawi causing nuisance and death. Thin plastics have for long been identified as an eyesore, they block drainage and cause death in livestock when ingested since they don’t easily decompose.

“That study is timely as action has to be urgently taken to address this issue of eliminating thin plastics if we are to secure a clean and healthy environment in Malawi,” said the Civil Society Network on Climate Change national coordinator.

However, in 2021, Golden Plastics Limited obtained a stay order restraining Malawi Environment Protection Authority from implementing the ban pending appeal in a case where the company is challenging the government on provision of the Plastics Regulations (2015).

Ng’oma said it is concerning that until now “we are yet to have clear settlement and direction on the thin plastics ban in Malawi when we have seen other countries such as Kenya and Rwanda making strides in terms of thin plastics regulations and compliance.

“It is a matter of urgency for the government to speed up the court cases and perhaps consider other options of engaging with concerned parties to find a quick and amicable solution to the stalemate.”

The government in 2015 outlawed the manufacturing, importation, and distribution of plastics with of less than 60 micrometres.

Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change Michael Usi is among advocates demanding the speeding up of the thin plastics case.

He used the 2023 International Day for Biodiversity and World Environment Day commemorations to argue that delaying the ruling is a major bottleneck in the fight against plastic pollution in the country.

Mid last year, a group of 20 non-governmental organisations and civil society groups petitioned Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda over delayed ruling on the case.

Malawi produces over 70 000 metric tonnes of plastic every year, 80 percent of which is single-use plastic.