Anthony Clark
PRW
Published: January 6, 2014 2:43 pm ET
The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has criticized a study undertaken by the University of London and the Natural History Museum into the damage caused by plastic litter in the Thames River.
''Chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics are so heavily regulated and controlled by the Reach food contact legislation that the toxic risk to the Thames and ultimately to consumers from a plastics product being irresponsibly discarded is infinitesimally tiny, if indeed it exists at all," said Philip Law, the BPF's director general designate.
"If used products are turning up in these quantities in the Thames then this just underlines the need for stiffer penalties applied for littering, dumping and fly-tipping," he added.
Law pointed out that London suffers from the absence of litterbins in its major thoroughfares due to past terrorist actions.
"If the country is truly serious about dealing decisively with littering and associated dumping then the government should apply more resources to public education programs," he said. | 
