As G7 leaders come together to attend a summit in the French seaside resort of Biarritz, lobbying campaigners flood the area to express their concerns, protesting about detergents that cause marine pollution. They wish to see such products banned completely to prevent further damage to the ocean ecosystem.
According to environmentalists, there is a “dead zone” in the Bay of Biscay off Biarritz and it’s caused by a “chemical cocktail” of detergents discharged into the sea. They say that Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, need only look out to sea when they are in Biarritz to see for themselves the magnitude of the problem.
When the sea is calm, the pollution is invisible, lying dormant within the waters it is infesting. But when the sea is choppy, a brownish foam appears on its surface. Tons of this dirty foam is often deposited on the beaches around Biarritz. Not only is it harmful to the sea creatures, but it is quite unpleasant for people as well since the location is a popular surfing destination because of the area’s high waves.
Georges Cingal, head of a federation of conservation groups, said:
The G7 should decide to withdraw petrochemical detergents from sale, as has already been done for some plastics. It’s only common sense if they don’t want dead zones to spread in our oceans, which are not yet dying completely, but are gravely ill.
Petrochemical micropollutants present in domestic detergents are “almost never treated by purification plants and end up in the sea,” says the campaign group France Nature Environnement (FNE). Which is why environmentalists are so concerned about the impact of the chemicals on marine life.
An FNE spokesman said:
Dead zones are waters containing very little oxygen where marine fauna is rare. Back in 2008, more than 400 of these areas had already been identified worldwide, covering 245,000 square kilometres (94,595 sq miles).
These dead zones are spreading across the globe from all the pollution humans have been creating. According to the French Environment Ministry, even small quantities of the micropollutants are toxic to living organisms. The only way to solve this problem is to ban toxic chemicals and allow only environmentally friendly detergents to be sold. That is what the campaigners are fighting for.
