BEN LECOMTE has decided to make himself and his swim into a scientific experiment.
EXCERPT: Before French marathon swimmer Benoit Lecomte began his six-month long attempt Tuesday to become the first to swim across the Pacific Ocean, he prepared for a number of possible challenges such as sharks, extremely cold water — and “plastic smog.”
That’s the term scientists use to describe billions of pieces of microplastic in the sea.
On his way from eastern Japan to San Francisco — a distance of 5,600 miles — the 51-year-old swimmer will encounter a lot of those microplastic particles, most of which have broken down from larger plastic items or deliberately included by manufacturers in body wash or toothpaste. In the Pacific, the biggest accumulation of plastic smog is about the size of Germany, France and Britain combined and Lecomte will swim right through it.
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