Chief Science Advisors and their equivalents from the G7 discussed this question at a roundtable on microplastics pollution on 13 February 2019 in the Canadian embassy in Washington, U.S.A.
The meeting aimed at deepening cooperation among G7 chief science advisors by sharing information to better advise public policies that tackle microplastic pollution, and establishing a basis to guide further cooperation between them in this area.
The recent SAPEA report was presented by SAPEA working group member Professor Richard Thompson from the University of Plymouth in the session ‘What the science says and does not say’.
The meeting came about from bilateral cooperation between the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and Canada’s Chief Science Advisor. Seen as relevant to G7 efforts to reduce plastics pollution and marine litter, the initiative was endorsed in the Chairs’ Summary of 20 September 2018 G7 Joint Ministerial Session in Halifax, Canada on “Healthy Oceans, Seas and resilient communities”.
