Plastic pollution is so widespread in the environment that you may be ingesting five grams a week, the equivalent of eating a credit card, a study commissioned by the environmental charity WWF International said on Wednesday. The study by Australia’s University of Newcastle said the largest source of plastic ingestion was drinking water, but another major source was shellfish, which tended to be eaten whole so the plastic in their digestive system was consumed too. “Since 2000, the world has produced as much plastic as all the preceding years combined, a third of which is leaked into nature,” the report…

• Alabama's state legislature passed a bill, known as House Bill 379, that will require convicted child sex offenders to undergo chemical castration prior to their release. • While surgical castration involves the physical removal of the testicles, chemical castration relies on a drug to reduce the person's testosterone activity to pre-puberty levels. • The use of chemical castration for sex offenders in the criminal justice system raises constitutional and ethical questions. Alabama's state legislature passed a bill Tuesday that will require convicted child sex offenders to undergo chemical castration prior to their release, raising questions about the legality and…