Scientists released an alarming report confirming the Great Lakes is being infested by synthetic microfibers that originate from clothing, cleaning cloths and other consumer products.

These micofibers are ultra thin fine filaments from petroleum based materials like polyester and nylon sewn together in fabrics that add to the already huge amount of microplastic litter infesting the lakes.

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According to Sherri Mason, a chemist from the State University of New York at Fredonia, this phenomenon occurs when little microfibers break apart and washes away after clothes are laundered. These microfibers go down the drain to wastewater treatment facilities that ultimately discharge treated water into larger bodies of water such as the Great Lakes.

These fibers are so minute many people don't realize their favorite sweater can shed thousands of bits of this material after every washing.

During the last two years, Mason and her team said these microplastic litter is also found in abrasive beads from personal care products such as body washes and toothpastes.

Some companies are now replacing these microbeads with natural substances from grounded fruit pits. Illinois banned the use of microbead products last year.

Microfibers have only been brought to scientists' attention just recently, however. Researchers' findings revealed these fibers make up four percent of the plastic litter found in the Great Lakes.

Researchers collected these particles by placing finely meshed netting on the lakes' surface. They harvested tens of thousands plastic fibers per square mile.

These microfibers also get stuck inside fish unlike microbeads and plastic fragments that are excreted by the fish. Mason and her team found these fibers get enmeshed with the gastrointestinal tract of some fish indigenous to the lakes.

Mason says when the plastic remains inside an organism, it changes the organism in some ways. Plastics, however, are toxic and are made from chemicals. She says microplastics can affect the Great Lakes' food chains, including people who eat fish and drink purified water from the lakes.

TagsGreat Lakes in Danger of Microfiber Plastic Pollution, great lakes, US, microfiber pollution, plastic pollution