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Plastic is "missing" in the oceanSingle-use plastics are, as the name suggests, manufactured for one use before being disposed of. Examples include the plastic cutlery that accompanies your takeout meal, straws, wrappers or general food packaging. Of the 300 million tons of plastic we produce yearly, 50% is attributed to single-use plastics.

Between 117-320 million tons of plastics are currently present in the ocean. However, the amount of plastic debris that has been quantified on the ocean surface is less than one percent of this total figure. Where is the rest of the plastic?

Scientists acknowledge that a large amount of plastic in the ocean is effectively missing. It "goes off the radar", moving from the ocean surface and shallow waters to the deeper ocean. It is likely that some plastic will be degraded by one of three pathways: mechanical, photodegradation or biological degradation; however, research suggests that it can take years, perhaps even centuries, for different plastics to undergo complete degradation by such methods if they are able to occur at the deepest points of the ocean.

"Many scientists believe floating plastics eventually sink into the deeper ocean, yet we havent reached a consensus regarding the amount of plastic debris that has accumulated on the deep seafloor and how these debris were transported there," explains Ryota Nakajima, biological oceanographer at the Japan Agency for Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC).

Nakajima is one of the scientists behind a new body of work published in Marine Pollution Bulletin that presents the first study of microplastics on the abyssal seafloor beneath the Kuroshio Extension (KE) and the KE recirculation gyre.

"Why Japanese deep-sea? Because most of the plastic is coming from the Asian continent. A previous study (Jambeck et al. 2015) estimated the top 20 contributors of mismanaged plastic waste available to enter the ocean in 2010.2 Nations on the Asian continent represented 12 of the top 20 countries, with China way out ahead of the pack [] Japan is located in the area where a large amount of plastic waste is transported from these massive waste producers via ocean currents such as Kuroshio, so the seas around Japan could be a hotspot of plastic debris," Nakajima says.

Nakajima and colleagues conducted video observations and physical sampling of plastic debris from multiple deep-sea floor sites beneath the KE and its recirculation gyre, a depth of approximately 5700-5800m, using a human occupied submersible, the Shinkai 6500.

The researchers found that the majority of the debris was single-use plastics, such as plastic bags and food packaging. The mean number of items per km2 was approximately 4561, the highest on record for an abyssal plain.

The specific items collected by the team were varied, including clothes, a toothpaste tube and steak packaging that was dated September 1984 meaning it was 35 years old at the time of collection. The packaging can be seen as visually intact in the image below. "This is an interesting example of the persistence of plastic debris in the marine environment. UV radiation and thermal oxidation are the primary factors to degrade plastics, but these factors are completely missing in the deep-sea environment. Plastic debris on the deep seafloor will most likely persist for at least a century," Nakajima explains.

Chicken steak packaging discovered by the research team. Credit: Nakajima.

The overall findings were, as Nakajima and team had hypothesized, that the deep-sea floor beneath the KE and its recirculation gyre act as a significant reservoir of plastic debris.

The researchers believe that the journey to find missing plastics in the ocean has barely begun. Next summer, the team will target the deep-sea floor beneath the other recirculation gyre of the Kuroshio Current, named the Kuroshio recirculation gyre, which is located to the south of the Japanese archipelago.

Ryota Nakajima was speaking with Molly Campbell, Science Writer for Technology Networks.

References:

1. Nakajima R, Tsuchiya M, Yabuki A, et al. Massive occurrence of benthic plastic debris at the abyssal seafloor beneath the Kuroshio Extension, the North West Pacific. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 2021:112188. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112188.

2. Jambeck JR, Geyer R, Wilcox C, et al. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science. 2015;347(6223):768. doi:10.1126/science.1260352.

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Single-Use Plastics Found at the Deepest Points of the Ocean - Technology Networks

A year ago, amid deep concern over COVID-19 and frantic work to develop vaccines, some of pharmas heaviest hitters saw the possibility of reputational enhancement.

Novartis AG chief executive (CEO) Vas Narasimhan dubbed it a "remarkable, perhaps once-in-a generation opportunity" back in April during the company's first quarter earnings call. Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, meanwhile, closely echoed this sentiment, stating the sector had a once in a generation opportunity to reset its reputation.

Indeed, the world watched news of vaccine development with bated breath. In the public mind, pharma companies came to be associated with hard-working scientists seeking to cure the world.

Yet it seems like that moment may already be passing, and the opportunity for rehabilitation in the public mind could disappear unless pharma companies take stock.

Earlier this year I warned that the industry may have put all of its eggs into the Covid-19 basket. A dive into our latest analysis of how the pharmaceutical sector is viewed through the crucial lens of its Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) actions bears this out, suggesting that the sector may already have missed the boat.

Fading glory

Our insights last year pointed to an improvement in stakeholder perceptions for the sector in 2020, as many warmed to pharma companies thanks to the halo effect of the vaccines. And while recent polling of a sample of the general public by RepTrak indicates that this trend has continued, our latest intelligence finds that this improvement has been short lived.

The headline figure from our deep dive into millions of alternative data, including media, regulator, investor, government, public and NGO sources from December 1, 2020, to February 28 this year shows average ESG perceptions of pharma have since nosedived.

Now, out of a possible range of -100% to +100%, the sectors average ESG rating is -20%, compared to +10% in the previous quarter.

Whats going on? Last June, The Economist compared COVID-19 vaccine development to the way mass production of penicillin during the Second World War revitalised the industrys reputation.

Positive headlines have since dwindled. Media attention had shifted from stories of firms collaborating for the benefit of humanity onto more complex territory. High profile issues like vaccine nationalism, anti-vaxxers and pharma companies falling foul of international politics amid the debate over possible side effects have come to the forefront.

The focus on vaccine manufacturers AstraZeneca and Pfizer, meanwhile, has led to increased scrutiny on the companies histories of alleged corruption and ethical breaches.

The pharmaceutical sector is of course, far bigger than its work onCOVID-19. With the initial shock if not the consequences of the pandemic having passed, we may expect this trend to continue. Scandals that may have not received attention last year will once again garner column inches and retweets even as the pandemic remains a global issue.

Dragging the industry down

What are the crucial ESG factors dragging the industry down?Business ethics is the single-most concerning issue for the industry right now, with a score of -13%. Major lawsuits against Roche and Biogen have opened a Pandoras box of bribery and corruption allegations, garnering major pick-up on social media in the process.

Biogen, which had to pay $22 million to resolve allegations that it illegally paid insurance co-payments for thousands of patients in order to collect Medicare revenue, languishes bottom of our list of 20 companies, with a -67% rating. This represents a drop of -80% compared to the previous quarter.

Roche, the best perceived pharma firm in the previous quarter with +64%, is now seventh with a rating of -3%, having had to pay out a $12.5 million for false claims through Humanas Medicare Advantage programme.

However, unless more scandal emerges, the firms longer-term progress on key ESG issues such as supply chain sustainability means it is well-placed to bounce back. Other firms would do well to take note.

A second issue afflicting the industrys ESG rating is affordability and pricing, with 12 firms scoring negatively on this issue.

While AstraZeneca offered to sell its COVID-19 vaccine at cost price until the pandemic is over, Moderna and Pfizers recent announcement that their versions are likely to contribute at least $15 billion and $18.4 billion respectively to sales this year will have gone down far better with shareholders than the wider public.

This, no doubt, has contributed to Pfizers fall 14 places to 19th position on our ESG rankings of 20 firms, with a score of -65% compared to +14% in the previous quarter. While AstraZenecas ESG score has also dropped, it has only moved down one position to 13th. There is a good chance that its cost price decision will be remembered positively in years to come.

Negative perceptions of affordability and pricing extend beyond issues relating to COVID-19, of course. Price hikes by AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Teva in late January have contributed towards the narrative shift to more negative territory.

Hot on the heels of this spike in negative news, meanwhile, came the refusal of nine companies - Amgen, AZ, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis and Novo Nordisk among them - to sell therapies at the price legally required by section 340B of the US Public Health Services Act.

Not all bad

It is easy to focus purely on the negatives amid pharmas broader shift in ESG ratings, but the traffic is not all one-way.

The sector has received the most positive ESG-related coverage when it comes to access to medicines, most likely due to the publication of the Access to Medicines Index. This annual report has shone a light on a range of successful initiatives and companies that have developed compelling access plans for low and middle income countries.

Praise for Takedas Access First approach, Patient Assistance Programs and consideration of end-to end' patient access to treatment have played a major key role in its ESG ascent from +11% the previous quarter to +56%, giving it top spot on our index.

Also moving up the ranks is Bayer, which came in second place with +40%, an increase from +8% the previous quarter. The firms ascent is linked with drug safety, an area that also garnered overall positive ESG perceptions with Bayer playing an important role in a new alliance with CureVac, for the development of CVnCoV, a COVID vaccine.

A new challenge

The vast challenges of 2020 offered pharmaceutical companies the chance to re-forge their images in the court of public perception.

For instance, Pfizer paid for National Geographic to follow the development of a vaccine, while Johnson & Johnson launched a social media serieson the hunt for a vaccine, drawing a vast, global audience.

Our ESG findings, however, indicate that pharmaceutical firms that expected a long-termimage-polish borne from vaccine development were sorely misguided.Perceptions of an industry coming together to help the common cause have faded as the reality and complexities of the vaccine rollout kick in.

The narrative is likely to shift towards the global disparities in vaccine acquisition, and attention is shifting once again to the norms of pharma coverage that preceded COVID-19.

Despite all this, the opportunity described by the likes of Vas Narasimhan has not completely vanished. Utilising the opportunity, however, requires far more than some well thought out content and a few savvy marketing gestures.

It demands that firms fully react to growing ESG expectations, building ESG practice into their wider models whether or not they are helping vaccinate the world from COVID-19.It is only by making these changes, and taking the public along with them as they do so, that any fundamental, long lasting shift in perception is achievable.

Siera Torontow is the Managing Director of Healthcare and Consumer Practice at alva

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Has pharma missed the boat? - PharmaTimes

Q. Can a music lover appreciate the book without having a deep knowledge of math, physics, or neuroscience?

A. Thats the goal. Once you mention math, art lovers and musicians glaze over: Not that they arent interested, but they are confident that they wont be able to follow the discussion. Untrue! This book goes into the nitty gritty of how math and biology underlie music, yet you dont need math skills beyond 5thgrade multiplication and division to understand the content.

In my class related to the book at Columbia, students range from undergrads to medical students to professors in other fields. Each student creates a project based on themes in the book, ranging from building new musical instruments, to creating new sounds, to writing deep learning algorithms that differentiate phrasing by famous piano virtuosos.

Q. What came first for you, neuroscience or music?

A. In junior high school, I fell in love with plantsin part, from Euell Gibbons booksand spent my time in forests with field guides. In college, I studied plant breeding, and thought I would be a contemporary Norman Bourlag and develop better agriculture for the world. After moving to New York City, I made a living for a year as a gigging musician. I applied to grad school in biology at Columbia, but there was only one plant laboratoryAlberto Mancinellis. We each had to take a neuroscience course run by Martin Chalfie and Darcy Kelley. I had not known the field existed until then.

Q. How does your work as a professor and lab directorat Columbia intersect with your life as a musician and composer?

A. These fields are starting to intersect. A talented grad student in my lab, Adrien Stanley, found that a sound associated with another sensory input elicits a specific and enormous change in a specific synaptic connection deep in the brain. His finding provides an entry to discovering how language and music are learned and coupled to meaning. This is important for normal learning and diseases of auditory processing, particularly autism. We are conducting this research with computational scientists, geneticists, and with our own skills as neurophysiologists. I dont think I would know how to start asking these questions if I hadnt taught my students about the auditory pathway.

Q. What music have you listened to during the pandemic?

A. Theres been wonderful music made during this period. David First is producing outstanding pandemic recordings, including drone music onThe Consummation of Right and Wrongwhich may not seem appealing until you listenand great pop songs related to Black Lives Matter withNew Party Systems. The Iranian-L.A. musician Sussan Deyhim is doing startling new work. Theres the new record Tyabala, from Lecole Fula Flute, children in Conakry, Guinea coached by New York musician Sylvain Leroux. This has been a good time to listen to gospel choirs, which Ive been discovering and rediscoveringTrey McLaughlin and the Sounds of Zamar, Kirk Franklin, Bob TelsonsGospel at Colonus.

Q. Any book recommendations?

A. I may have been intellectually transformed by explorer-entomologist Mark Moffetts new book,The Human Swarm. If he is right, some of our most despicable behavior is biologically built-in, just as it is for ants. He writes that pettiness, status-seeking, backstabbing, and nationalism are innate, and that the better we understand this, the better we can deal with issues that will always show up in human society.

Q. What are you teaching now? How have you been able to help your students cope with online learning?

A. For lab research, we had to coordinate schedules so that only one person is in a room at a time. During the several weeks we couldnt do any experiments, all students worked on review papers about the history of their research. This forces them to learn their roots, produces useful articles for the rest of the field, and, for grad students, doubles as the first chapters of their dissertations.

Q. You're hosting a dinner party. Which three academics or scholars, dead or alive, would you invite and why?

A. If the dinner party ought to be in a language I can nearly speak, Ill invite Jonathan Swift, abona-fide academic as Dean of St. Patricks in Dublin, and his troubled spiritual descendent, George Orwell, likewise a dyed-in-the-wool academic who taught college.

Orwell was well aware that his own bleary-eyed One World utopian ideals ran contrary to Swifts dour Anglican view of humanitys venality, and yet Swift was his single greatest influence. Due to the unfair one-way direction of time, Swift hasnt had a chance to hear Orwell out. For a priest, Swift seems to have been talented at partying, and the music will be provided by his close friend, Turlough OCarolan, the blind harpist and sort of national composer of Ireland. If available, hell bring the English folk musician Eliza Carthy to sing Swifts lyrics. Im afraid that the menu will be Guinness and chips in curry sauce wrapped in newspaper.

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A New Book Explores the Connections Between Music, Physics, and Neuroscience - Columbia University