dominican republic. but the problem is everywhere. this was los angeles last fall. captioning funded by cbs and ford. over time, that plastic we go further, so you can. disperses, disintegrates into >> pegasus is a powerful cyber- smaller pieces, and often gets surveillance tool that is eaten by fish, making its way up licensed by an israeli developer the food chain. to governments all around the world. scientists still aren't sure what all that means for human they can use it to track health, but it's tightening its terrorists, but also critics. grip on marine animals and their habitat. possibly including jamal khashoggi. >> denise hardesty: on the most >> i can tell you, very clear, remote, most pristine beach, in the middle of the ocean, on a we had nothing to do with this little, tiny island, you will find trash there, too. horrible murder. >> alfonsi: denise hardesty is a >> it's been reported that you research scientist for the australian government, and a yourself sold pegasus to the leading authority on ocean saudis for $55 million. plastics, who studies the problem around the world. >> don't believe newspapers. >> hardesty: i was even just in >> is that a denial? antarctica a couple years ago, and even there we're finding the no. ( ticking ) refuse of human society. >> alfonsi: and what does that >> take a look around. tell you? >> hardesty: the ubiquity of odds are, you're surrounded by plastics has really made its plastic. mark.

that water bottle we use once you know, humans are really good and throw away will be with us at creating things, and, for generations. >> by 2050, there will be more we're really good at making plastic in the ocean than fish. things that last forever, clearly with plastics. and they are everywhere. >> there are campaigns to limit this plastic plague, with bans >> plastics take the stage at an international exhibit in on bags and straws, and yet amsterdam. >> alfonsi: and that's been the around the world, it continues case ever since plastic filled to pile up, seeping into our our homes in the 1950s. rivers and streams, and turning >> the women-folk washing dishes our oceans into a vast garbage made of plastic-- dishes that dump. bounce when they drop to the floor. but one mop-haired young >> alfonsi: it was revolutionary. dutchman has come up with a plan >> when the rain comes down on which he says will save our tomorrow's brave new world, seas. you'll put on your plastic hi, boyan! raincoat, put up your plastic >> hi. hood. >> his name is boyan slat. >> alfonsi: television he has no formal training, and commercials billed it as the material of the future. his much-hyped, multi-million- >> see these two portable radios? dollar device has made him well, watch this. something of a sensation. let her go, betsy! we decided to see what all the fuss is about. >> susan freinkel: i think the ( ticking ) flood of plastic products in the years after world war ii helped >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. make the, sort of, americanib p >> i'm scott pelley. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm bill whitaker. >>on: susan freinkel is acisco-e those stories, tonight, on "60 minutes." writer, whose book, "plastic: a ( ticking ) toxic love story," chronicles its history.

oh! oh! oh! >> freinkel: it's kind of a ♪ ozempic®! ♪ technological miracle. (announcer) people with type 2 diabetes i mean, we've created this are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. family of materials, and figured in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults out how to make them do pretty much anything that we want them lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c to do, you know? of less than 7 and maintained it. you want it to be bendy, you oh! under 7? want it to be transparent, you want it to be squishy? (announcer) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, you want it to keep lettuce adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. fresh for two weeks? oh! up to 12 pounds? >> listen, to the sounds of freshness. (announcer) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not >> alfonsi: there are a lot of increase the risk of major cardiovascular events things that are made of plastic that we don't really think of as like heart attack, stroke, or death. plastic. where is plastic in our lives? oh! no increased risk? >> freinkel: ( laughs ) (announcer) ozempic® should not be the first medicine how long have you got? for treating diabetes, or for people i mean-- i did a thought with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. experiment at the start of my book, where i said, "okay, i'm do not share needles or pens. going to go a day without don't reuse needles. touching anything plastic." i thought it was a great idea, do not take ozempic® if you have a personal until i walked into the bathroom or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, and looked down at the plastic toilet seat, and my plastic multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, toothbrush, and so i said, "okay, i'm going to or if you are allergic to ozempic®. spend the day writing down everything that's plastic." stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away and by the day's end, i had this, you know, enormous list. if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, >> alfonsi: you look back at some of those old commercials, severe sman, i,, uble bng and it's really-- you know, plastic is sold as something that is life-changing. >> freinkel: yes. >> alfonsi: i mean, one of the things you see in these early

ads is, "it will last forever." >> freinkel: yes, yes, it will serious last forever. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin and-- unfortunately, nobody really thought about what that may increase the risk for low blood sugar. meant. common side effects are nausea, vomiting, di >> alfonsi: there are really only three things you can do stomach pain, and constipation. with plastic. put it in a landfill, burn it, some side effects can lead to dehydration, or recycle it. which may worsen kidney problems. for decades, we thought i discovered the potential with ozempic®. recycling was the best answer, ♪ oh! oh! oh! ozempic®! ♪ and we were told to throw our plastic, our paper, and our (announcer) if eligible, you may pay as little as $25 per prescription. aluminum cans into those familiar bins, to be picked up ask your health care provider today and carted away. about once-weekly ozempic®. (woman) (man) have you smeno.d this litter? but according to roland geyer, (woman) nobody has! it's unscented! an environmental scientist at (vo) tidy cats free & clean unscented. the university of california, powerful odor control with activated charcoal. 90% of the plastic we used never free of dyes. free of fragrances. made it into one of those bins unscented odor control like that? at all. try tidy cats free & clean. the other 10% ended up in places like recology, a recycling i kick it to the curb. facility in northern california. th pink power. >> here, lots of milk bottles. >> alfonsi: and you'llhe and many other plants across the with grapefruit e clears breakouts.k wer. country, had been doing with neutrogena®. that plastic.

body clear®. >> roland geyer: until recently, in california, and probably it's easy to move forward when you're ready for what comes next. much of the rest of the u.s., at fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan two-thirds of the plastic went to cover the essentials in retirement, straight to china. >> alfonsi: china. why china? as well as all the things you want to do. >> geyer: china was accepting and on the way, you'll get timely investment help it, and it appears that china to keep you on the right track, found a way to recycle it without the unnecessary fees you might expect from so many financial firms. economically, which the, the because when you have a partner u.s. has trouble with. who gives you clarity at every step, >> alfonsi: but all that changed there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. two years ago, when china decided it didn't want to be the world's trash dump, and shut the door to our plastic, leaving plants like recology scrambling. where is all that recycling going now? >> geyer: a lot of the plastic has been diverted to other countries, like vietnam, indonesia, malaysia, bangladesh, thailand. >> alfonsi: and of those countries, do we know that what we're sending to them is ultimately being recycled?

>> geyer: we hope it gets recycled. >> alfonsi: we hope? but do we think? >> geyer: we, we don't know. there's no real audit trail or anything like that, so it's very difficult. and we know that a lot of plastic in southeast asia and other countries ends-- ends up in open dumps. >> alfonsi: this is discouraging, i think, to most people. is the idea of recycling a myth? >> geyer: i wouldn't call it a myth. >> alfonsi: but it's not working. >> geyer: for plastic, it's currently not working. so we need-- we need to change it. we need to try different things. >> by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. >> alfonsi: there are campaigns across the country to ban straws and bags, and try to reduce the amount of plastic we consume in the first place. but su >> freinkel: i know all the >> stahl: tonight, we'll take you inside the growing, shadowy problems about plastic, and if you open my kitchen, you know, global market of cyber cabinets, i've got a box of espionage. ziploc baggies there, because we looked specifically at a it's easier. controversial israeli company so, you know, we have to really called the n.s.o. group, valued wrestle ourselves with, what

at nearly a billion dollars, conveniences are we willing to give up, what kind of cons-- that says it developed a hacking consumption are we willing to, tool that can break into just sort of, pull back on, in order about any smartphone on earth. to change? >> plastics. plastics everywhere. as we first reported in march, >> alfonsi: it is a big ask, n.s.o. licenses this software, that would require a major called pegasus, to intelligence overhaul in the way we live our lives. and law enforcement agencies which may be why boyan slat and worldwide, so they can infiltrate the encrypted phones his big idea were getting breathless coverage from the and apps of criminals and terrorists. world's media... >> slat: we start with one problem is, this same tool can system, because we proof the technology and learn as much as also be deployed by a government possible. >> alfonsi: ...nearly all of to crush dissent. whom seemed to turn up for the spectacle last september, as his and so it is that pegasus has been linked to human rights system was towed under the abuses, unethical surveillance, golden gate bridge, 1,400 miles and even to the notoriously out to the great pacific garbage brutal murder of the saudi patch. arabian critic jamal khashoggi. >> slat: well, it's five years of work and planning coming together, in one nice shot. headquartered in the israeli it's overwhelming, exciting to city of herzliya, n.s.o. group see. operates in strict secrecy. going through the golden gate bridge right now. it's a beautiful sight. but co-founder and c.e.o. shalev >> alfonsi: but after hulio has been forced out of the deployment, its performance was shadows, and not i less enchanting. first, the plastic it did manage

to corral ended up floating pegasus to saudi arabia despite right back into the pacific, its abysmal record on human then, the apparatus broke apart rights. and the word is that you sold and had to be towed back to shore. pegasus to them, and then they and even if he did get the device working, scientists we turned it around to get spoke to had serious doubts khashoggi. about just how effective it >> shalev hulio: khashoggi could be. murder is horrible. really horrible. for one thing, its ten-foot screen could only skim the and therefore, when i first ocean's surface, missing plastic heard there are accusations that that's much deeper. it could also end up trapping our technology been used on marine animals. jamal khashoggi, or on his but their biggest criticism is relatives, i started an that it's pointless to spend immediate check about it. millions of dollars trying to clean the middle of the ocean and i can tell you very clear, when more and more plastic is we had nothing to do with this flowing into it from the coastlines. for researcher denise hardesty, horrible murder. slat's device was certainly no >> stahl: it's been reported that you yourself went to riyadf silver bullet. you're skeptical? >> hardesty: i would love to be wrong. sold pegasus to the saudis for what i'm suggesting is that we use our resources wisely and $55 million. focus on the items close to >> hulio: don't believe newspapers. >> stahl: is that a denial? source, where we can clean them up. no. >> alfonsi: get it earlier? >> hardesty: get it early. pegasus is so expensive because >> alfonsi: get it closer to the it lets authorities do what they shore? >> hardesty: get it close to

shore. and if you really want to focus long couldn't: break into smart- it, be smart, have these big trash booms near the city phones remotely, making everything in them completely centers. because that's where we lose visible-- all emails, contacts, much more of it, as well. and if you want to be even and texts, new, old, encrypted smarter, stop it before it gets to the coast. you know, have some rubbish or not. traps at rivers that feed out pegasus allows detectives and into the mouth of the ocean, or agents to track locations, further upstream, even. you know, i think the analogy listen in to and record that you hear often is, "if conversations; basically turning you've got a flood in the bathtub, you're not going to go the phone against its user. just get a bunch of towels and try to keep cleaning it up, in the company's eight-year because it's still flooding history, they have never let over. you really need to turn off the cameras in. tap," right? >> alfonsi: people that we spoke but they wanted to show us to said, "this is like trying to they're like any high-tech mop up a flooded bathroom, but company, with playstations and leaving the tap on." pilates. >> slat: i think humanity can do more than one thing at the same time. but there was a lot we couldn't and, you know, if your bathroom show. notice: no faces. is over-flooding, i'm still the work is top secret, and some pretty happy that the mop employees are ex-military exists. and eventually we need to mop it intelligence and mossad. up, right? pegasus is such a sensitive >> alfonsi: slat has spent spy-tool, n.s.o. has to get months working to overcome those early failures, and an updated approval before it can be licensed to any client, let device is now back in the alone saudi arabia, from the garbage patch.

israeli defense ministry, as he says he's hopeful that this time, it will work. though it's an arms deal. when we come back, we'll take why would the government of you to one of the most remote israel want, you know, what places in the world, to show you just how far the plastic plague seems to be an enemy, to have has spread. this technology? ( ticking ) >> hulio: i'm not going to talk about specific customer. >> stahl: but can you say that you won't, and haven't, sold >> cbs sports hq is presented by progressive insurance. pegasus to a country that is i'med a saddam ducker in our new york studio. known to violate human rights golf today at the bmw championship. justin thomas gets his tenth pga and imprison journalists and go tour win, shooting a course after activists? record 61 in the third round. >> hulio: i only say that we are selling pegasus in order to in the n.f.l., saints quash prevent crime and terror. leads the comeback against the chargers. yesterday it was the patriots beeat thing the titans and the >> stahl: penetrating an iphone was an issue in the terrorist cowboys beating the rams. attack in san bernardino, for 24/7news and highlight, california, in 2015. visit cbs sports hq.com. the f.b.i. said it couldn't get more of. into the shooter's phone, and -i'm not calling him "dad." apple refused to help over -oh, n-no. privacy concerns, an issue that -look, [sighs] i get it. had come up before. some new guy comes in helping your mom bundle and save with progressive, >> hulio: intelligence agencies

came to us and say, "we do have but hey, we're all in this together. a problem. with the new smartphones-- we right, champ? cannot longer get valuable -i'm getting more nuggets. intelligence." -how about some carrots? >> stahl: they were encrypted? you don't want to ruin your dinner. >> hulio: yeah, exactly. -you're not my dad! >> stahl: how many lives do you -that's fair. think pegasus has saved? overstepped. >> hulio: ten of thousands of people. >> stahl: really? >> hulio: yes. >> stahl: hulio referred us to the head of a western european intelligence agency, who, off- camera, confirmed that pegasus is a game-changer in foiling attacks by european jihadists, as well as shutting down drug and human trafficking rings. but here's the question: how often has pegasus also been used to go after a government's critics? if you were in saudi arabia, you'd be in jail? >> ghanem almasarir: well, i don't think i would be in jail. i don't think anyone would find my body, like what jamal khashoggi has faced. >> stahl: ghanem almasarir is a saudi comic living in london, who has a popular youtube satire show that takes aim at crown

prince mohammed bin salman. last year, as the regime was kidnapping, locking up, and torturing saudi dissidents, ghanem says he and other critics abroad got text messages like this fake d.h.l. notice that, if clicked, would download pegasus i have heart disease, onto their phones, so they could be spied on. watch what i eat, take statins, but still struggle to lower my ldl bad cholesterol. and you clicked on it? of course, yeah. "who's sending me a package?" which means a heart attack or stroke. now, pegasus is designed to could strike without warning, pulling me away from everything that matters most. catch terrorists. (siren) >> almasarir: so, who defines because with high bad cholesterol, the terrorist? my risk of a heart attack or stroke do you think i am a terrorist? is real. ♪ do i look like a terrorist? repatha® plus a statin seriously lowers bad cholesterol by 63%. i don't know what it-- >> stahl: i don't know what a terrorist looks like. >> almasarir: but, i mean, the and significantly drops my risk of having a heart attack problem is, the saudis consider or stroke. do not take repatha® if you are allergic to it. people asking for freedom for repatha® can cause serious allergic reactions. speech as terrorist. signs include: trouble breathing or swallowing, they consider anybody who is a or swelling of the face. threat to their regime is a most common side effects include runny nose, sore throat, terrorist. common cold symptoms, flu or flu-like symptoms >> stahl: what do you do when your customer has a definition back pain, high blood sugar, and redness, pain,

of "terrorist" that isn't our or bruising at the injection site. definition? in some countries, the i won't let a heart attack or stroke come between me opposition are-- are terrorists? and everything i love. neither should you. >> hulio: no such thing. every customer that we sold has tell your doctor to lower your ldl and reduce your risk with repatha®. a very clear definition of what terrorism is. pay no more than $5 per month with the repatha® copay card. and it's basically bad guys doing bad things in order to kill innocent people, in order to change the political agenda. i never met with a customer that told me that oppositions are terrorists. >> stahl: well, they're not going to tell you. >> hulio: but if they will act like that-- they will not going to be a customer. there are more than 100 countries-- 100 countries that we will never sell our technologies to. >> ron deibert: the problem is, there's there are not proper controls around how this technology is being used. >> stahl: ron deibert heads citizen lab, a human rights watchdog at the university of toronto where researchers, like computer scientist bill marczak, say they figured out a way to

detect if a phone has been targeted by pegasus, which they did in the case of ghanem almasarir and other saudi dissidents. >> deibert: this technology is being used by autocratic dictators who can mount global cyber espionage operations simply by purchasing the technology. >> stahl: so you are saying that once they sell this technology, once the israelis sell it, they know how it's being used? >> bill marczak: well, the question is, "do they care to look?" i think if they cared to look, they would have the opportunity to see how it was being used. >> stahl: but shalev hulio says n.s.o. is unable to see who their clients are targeting. only after there's an a ( ticking ) ofiscan n.s.o. demand target-data in order to >> alfonsi: plastic is everywhere. investigate. it's not unusual to see water >> hulio: and i can tell you bottles or grocery bags wash up that in the last eight years on our beaches.t suly, if trave that the company exist, we only had real three cases of misuse, enough away from people and three cases. find a pristine beach, untouched by the plague of plastic, right?

out of thousands of cases of saving lives, three was a well, we decided to find out. misuse. last summer, we traveled to and those people or those midway atoll, a small group of organization that misuse the islands, mid-way between the system, they are no longer a u.s. and asia. customer and they will never be a customer again. it's an american territory best known as the site of one of the >> the first case in mexico-- most important battles of world >> stahl: but citizen lab says war ii. it was able to find many more today, the islands are closed to cases-- 27 in mexico alone, the public, and home to a host of exotic animals, including a where pegasus was used to target charismatic sea bird called the political rivals, reporters, and laysan albatross. civil rights lawyers. they also say they found the it's not easy to get to midway. pegasus link on the phone of this human rights activist, visiting involves a long ahmed mansoor, from the united permitting process, and a arab emirates. chartered plane from honolulu to the middle of the ocean. >> tami shachar: i think that >> we're almost mid-way to people that are not part of midway right now, from oahu. criminal or terrorist activities have nothing to worry about. >> alfonsi: after three hours, >> stahl: tami shachar, who was tiny slivers of light appear, a n.s.o.'s co-president, told us postage stamp in the vast pacific. pegasus is used with surgical precision. >> shachar: it's not mass as soon as we landed, it felt surveillance technology. like we'd tumbled down the this is really for the bin rabbit hole, into a curious ladens of the world. wonderland. >> stahl: but the reason that there are so many birds on the your company has been atoll, we could only get here

criticized, and the reas after dark, once they'd settled we're here doing this interview, down for the night. is because countries have used as we made our way inland, the albatross chicks were oblivious your technology on human rights to our caravan. activists, on journalists. >> shachar: there are allegations that have been brought. there are reports that were but, by daybreak, it seemed like said. and we take every such we'd found paradise, a tiny allegation very seriously. atoll surrounded by turquoise and we look into it. nothing has been proven. waters. spinner dolphins patrol the coastline. >> stahl: to protect against misuse, she says, n.s.o. has endangered monk seals and giant three layers of vetting sea turtles bask on its white beaches. potential customers: one by the and, of course, the birds. israeli defense ministry; a so many birds. second by its own business ethics committee; and thirdly... over a million flapping, snapping, chattering laysan >> shachar: our contractual albatross, the largest colony agreements have our customers sign, that the only intended use anywhere in the world. of the system will be against and they just don't get out of terror and crime. >> stahl: oh, they sign? the way. come on. you have an autocratic ( laughter ) government, and they say, "oh, >> amanda boyd: some are friendlier than others. we're not going to use it except just like people. against criminals," and you just believe them? >> alfonsi: amanda boyd works with the u.s. fish and wildlife no, come on. service, which oversees midway. >> shachar: as i said, the contractual agreement comes every day, its beaches are the after two layers and-- you know,

i would love for you to sit in scene of small acts of courage, one of our business ethics committee. and clumsy crash and burns. we have a tough discussion because, imagine a country is facing major terrorist threats. once they're off, the albatross in the same time, they have some can spend months at sea, corruption issues. venturing thousands of miles, and you have to sit in that room and weigh what is more but returning to the same spot and the same partner. important: to help them fight terror? or maybe there is a chance that it's going to be misused. a relationship that begins with it's not a black and white answer. more preening and chest-pumping it's a tough ethical question. than a miami nightclub. >> stahl: there are other ethical questions in deploying pegasus. >> boyd: oh my gosh! to hone in on a target, for to watch them dance. instance, authorities often and as they're court-shipping. infect the phones of innocent people around them, like family when you find a pair that has members. it's been reported that mexican actually been together and they're in sync, it's authorities used pegasus to mesmerizing. capture drug lord joaquin they know each other's cues. guzman, better known as el and it's like art. it's beautiful. chapo, by tapping the phones of it's inspiring to watch that. a few people he talked to while >> alfonsi: inspiring, and loud. he was on the lam. honking lovers... >> hulio: i read it in the ( honking ) newspaper, the same as you. >> stahl: okay. >> hulio: in order to catch ...who are mostly ignored by el chapo, for example, they had their neighbors.

to intercept a journalist, an if any place should be actress, and a lawyer. unspoiled, it's midway. now by themselves, they-- you the atoll is blissfully know, they are not criminals, isolated, off-limits to the right? >> stahl: right. public, and protected as part of >> hulio: but if they are in one of the largest marine touch with a drug lord, and in reserves in the world. geeze. order to catch them, you need to so it was disturbing to see intercept them, that's a this. what are those orange and yellow decision that intelligence things? agencies should get. >> kevin o'brien: harbor booms. what if you can prevent the 9/11 >> alfonsi: when we met him, kevin o'brien oversaw marine terror attack? debris removal in the region for and for that, you had to the national oceanographic and intercept the son, the 16-years- atmospheric administration. old son of bin laden? hundreds of tons of plastic have would that be legit or not? been retrieved from midway in the last two decades. >> stahl: targeting someone's he showed us last year's pile, inner circle has become an issue in the khashoggi case. a veritable department store of discarded debris. omar abdulaziz, an influential >> o'brien: here, an intact saudi online critic based in c.r.t. tv screen here. >> alfonsi: a whole screen. canada, was texting with >> o'brien: yeah. >> alfonsi: oh, look at this. khashoggi up to his death. so, you got enough things, you can sort it, i guess. >> o'brien: toothbrushes. now, abdulaziz is suing n.s.o., we find an incredible amount of toothbrushes. alleging that the saudis used >> alfonsi: tires. pegasus to hack his phone, and >> o'brien: tires. these can be dangerous, because the young monk seals often will thereby spy on khashoggi. t curious and stick th

snout in these eel cones. we asked shalev hulio if his investigation explored the wider of chemicals, with the lid still circumference around the slain journalist. on, which we have to treat >> hulio: i can tell you that pretty carefully, because we're we've checked, and we have a lot never sure what-- what's in it. >> alfonsi: what's in there. >> o'brien: you know, the of ways to check. label's gone and... we found car bumpers, motorcycle and i can guarantee to you our helmets, firemen's helmets, golf technology was not used on jamal clubs, bowling balls. khashoggi or his relatives. >> stahl: or the dissidents? >> alfonsi: all this trash ends up here because midway sits at like omar abdulaziz and-- >> hulio: or the relatives. the edge of the great pacific i'm not going to get into garbage patch, a vast ocean specific. i tell you that if we will whirlpool that draws in plastic figure out that somebody is from coastlines around the world. misused the system, we will shut down the system immediately. kevin o'brien had been coming to we have the right to do it, and midway for a decade to survey we have the technology to do it. and retrieve the debris. >> stahl: it begs the question, did you shut down the saudis? this is some of what he hauled away last fall. >> hulio: i'm not going to talk >> o'brien: these nets are about customers, and i'm not almost always made of some sort going to go into specific. of plastic. once they've been weathered in we do what we need to do. the environment, they can become we help create a safer world. very brittle. >> alfonsi: whoa. >> o'brien: and can easily break down into... ( ticking ) >> alfonsi: little-- >> o'brien: ...microplastics. >> alfonsi: wow. so this looks like it's breaking apart and going away. >> o'brien: right.

>> alfonsi: but it's not. >> o'brien: but it's not. ( war sounds ) >> alfonsi: long before plastics invaded midway, u.s. forces repelled a japanese assault in the second world war. the japanese had hoped to use the islands as a bridge to the mainland. the american victory there in 1942 was a turning point. managingaudrey's on it.s? today, there's a monument to the eating right and staying active? americans who died in the battle of midway. on it! audrey thinks she's doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and if you tour the islands, you but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk? find relics everywhere. decaying artillery, derelict hangars, and beneath the water, maybe not. jardiance can reduce the but is her treatment doing enrisk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. the rusting skeletons of old warships. so it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and, of course, evidence of the new battle underway here. and it lowers a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects >> o'brien: we've been cleaning including dehydration, it up for years. >> alfonsi: and it keeps coming. genital yeast or urinary tract infections, >> o'brien: and it keeps coming. >> alfonsi: on a walk along one of the beaches, we found a and sudden kidney problems.

ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. shoreline strewn with bottles and buoys, crates, and a rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection... canisters. ...in the skin of the perineum could occur. is this a problem that's unique to these islands? stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away >> o'brien: it's really not. there are beaches like this all if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection,... over the world. what is unique about midway is ...ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. that none of this plastic you do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis see on the beaches here originates here. or have severe kidney problems. it's a problem that doesn't know borders. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. >> alfonsi: i think a lot of people see this on their beaches, and it kind of looks lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack? like sea glass at first. >> o'brien: yeah, it looks like a mosaic. on it with jardiance. it's really colorful, actually kind of beautiful. ask your doctor about jardiance. >> alfonsi: yeah, but what is it really? >> o'brien: but, a lot of this is really plastic. you know, and we can-- we can sift it here and see what we come up with. little pieces of-- >> alfonsi: sure. this is a bottle cap, you can see. and what's the harm with this? are fish eating this? >> o'brien: yeah, the smaller the piece of plastic, the smaller the animal that can consume it. >> alfonsi: do we know that they definitely have effects on fish? >> o'brien: we don't know that for certain. these plastics become a magnet, essentially, for toxic chemicals that are found in the environment: p.c.b.s, pesticides, fire retardant

chemicals. and so, the longer a piece of plastic stays in the environment, the more toxic it becomes. >> alfonsi: studies have found these microplastics in everything from supermarket seafood to drinking water. but scientists don't yet know what all that means for our health. >> kelly goodale: when an adult comes in, they'll make a couple of noises, saying, "hey, i'm back." >> alfonsi: but the effects on birds are easier to see. kelly goodale, a u.s. fish and wildlife biologist, took us on a ride around midway to show us you see clear skin. cosentyx can help people the impact all this plastic is with moderate to severe having on them. plaque psoriasis find clear skin that can last. >> goodale: so the adults have been coming back, every few days don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. to a couple of weeks, to feed them. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. >> alfonsi: what's happening right now? an increased risk of infections >> goodale: it's-- it's and lowered ability to fight them may occur. regurgitating up more food. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, >> alfonsi: dinner time here might make you lose your if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms appetite. oh! develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. >> goodale: did you see that squid? >> alfonsi: yeah. serious allergic reactions may occur. ( laughs ) that was a whole squid! >> goodale: yeah. how sexy are these elbows? >> alfonsi: that ought to keep you happy for a while. ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. for all the fish and squid they catch, the albatross bring back

plastic, too, from that great pacific garbage patch. goodale showed us their nesting grounds. >> goodale: and so here, we do have a chick that did die. and, as you can see-- if you want to take a look at it. >> alfonsi: oh my goodness. oh, geeze. >> goodale: in here, you see there are so many pieces of plastic-- >> alfonsi: plastic. >> goodale: look at the amount of-- >> alfonsi: plastic bag. and they eat the plastic bags, why? >> goodale: you know, these can look like food sources. it can look like a squid to them. >> alfonsi: so they think this is food? >> goodale: they do think it's food, and, you know, flying fish, they can lay eggs on floating debris. and so they will absolutely lay eggs on pieces of floating plastic. so if the adults are out there foraging, they pick up those >> alfonsi: take a look around. odds are, you're surrounded by eggs as well as pieces of plastic. plastic in there. it's in our kitchens, and in our >> alfonsi: so it's the serving bedrooms. dish for the egg. it keeps our food fresh, and our >> goodale: yes. medicine safe. >> alfonsi: and of the birds that you end up looking at and it is, in many ways, a miracle product, cheap to produce and dissecting, what percentage of virtually indestructible. them has-- have plastics in them?

>> goodale: every single bird yet plastic's blessings are also has plastic in it. a curse. >> alfonsi: every bird? >> goodale: yes. that water bottle we use once >> alfonsi: u.s. fish and and throw away will be with us wildlife scientists estimate the for generations. birds carry five tons of plastic there are campaigns to limit back to midway in their stomach this plastic plague, with bans every year. on bags and straws, and yet some of it, kelly goodale around the world, it continues collects and catalogues. to pile up, seeping into our >> goodale: a comb. >> alfonsi: a comb? rivers and streams, and turning >> goodale: this one is probably our oceans into a vast garbage one of the most disturbing ones. this was-- dump. but as we first reported in >> alfonsi: oh my goodness! december, one mop-haired young >> goodale: you have bottle caps in here. dutchman has come up with a plan >> alfonsi: this looks like trash from a drugstore. which he claims will save our seas. >> goodale: it pretty much is. >> alfonsi: okay, all this was his name is boyan slat. inside one bird? >> goodale: yes. he has no formal training, but >> alfonsi: parts of this atoll can look like the site of a his much-hyped, multi-million- disaster. dollar device has made him and while goodale says it's something of a sensation. impossible to pinpoint the cause so, we decided to see what all of death in every case, there's the fuss was about. no question plastic can be fatal to these birds, either by ( ship horns ) filling up their stomachs and in an old naval base just leaving little room for food, or outside san francisco, engineers by tearing up their insides. have spent months assembling as these photos from fish and a curious contraption, the wildlife show, that plastic, brainchild of a driven then- which scientists say can take

24-year-old dutchman named boyan hundreds of years to decompose, slat, who dropped out of college is often the only thing left to take center stage in a grand after the birds have gone. new venture. >> o'brien: everyone, no matter >> boyan slat: so how many of those clamps do we have? where you live, has a role in >> engineer: 200 clamps. this problem. >> alfonsi: it was just 2,000 even someone in south dakota, feet of plastic piping, affixed for instance, who has a river to a ten-foot nylon screen. near their home and doesn't dispose of their plastic bottle but slat's lofty promise? appropriately, might be that he could clean up the contributing to this problem. world's oceans. >> alfonsi: all the way out here? his idea, as he laid it out in >> o'brien: all waterways lead to the ocean. and once this stuff gets into this animation, was to tow his the ocean, the ocean currents device out to an area known as can take it anywhere. the great pacific garbage patch, >> alfonsi: anywhere and everywhere. the largest of five ocean whirlpools where much of the it's hard to find a place not plagued by plastic. world's plastic accumulates. just then, we got a reminder of despite what you may have heard, what else is at stake, as an the garbage patch isn't an endangered monk seal paddled by. island, and it's even difficult what's this guy doing, you to see with the naked eye. think? it's a vast soup of floating is he coming in to eat, or is he going to-- debris, much of it tiny and >> o'brien: he's coming in, he's checking it out. these are the locals. below the surface. and, whether or not you care if all went according to plan, about all of these incredible species that live up here in it was designed to use the wind, this very remote place, it waves, and water currents to doesn't necessarily matter. because there are so many other skim the plastic, and corral it

things that rely on the ocean. into an area where it could be people rely on the ocean for removed, the first phase of an their livelihood. fishermen. ambitious goal. people rely on the ocean for recreation, tourism. >> slat: i hope to deploy, say, and right here, we have an around 60 of these cleanup indicator of the health of our systems in the-- in the next two ocean. >> alfonsi: you say this is an to three years. indicator. >> alfonsi: 60? what does it tell you? >> slat: yeah, which, if we are >> o'brien: it tells us that the successful with that, we should scale of the problem is massive, be able to remove half this and it's global. great pacific garbage patch ( ticking ) every five years. >> alfonsi: and what about the other half? >> slat: so, of course we don't >> meet wisdom. stop after five years. in her 60's, she's the oldest the eventual goal of this cleanup is to get to a 90% known bird in the wild. reduction by the year 2040. >> she has seen it all! >> including a world before plastics. >> alfonsi: that's pretty aggressive. >> slat: yeah. go to www.60minutesovertime.com. >> alfonsi: hi, boyan! sponsored by pfizer. we first joined slat last ( ticking ) september, just before he was due to take his system out to sea. quit slow turkey. it was fitted with an array of gadgets, to alert ships to its presence, and to allow slat and along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. his team to monitor its progress with chantix you can keep smoking at first in the middle of the pacific ocean. and ease into quitting. chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, critics were already calling slat's multi-million-dollar you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. moonshot "misguided." when you try to quit smoking, yoow, who said, "oh, t with or without chantix,

can't work, it won't work. you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. it's a waste of time." stop chantix and get help right away is there a part of you that is if you have changes in behavior or thinking, waiting for that "i told you so" moment? aggression, hostility, depressed mood, >> slat: i try not to lower suicidal thoughts or actions, myself to that level. >> alfonsi: how's that going? ( laughs ) seizures, >> slat: yeah, it's going all new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, right. sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions. >> alfonsi: slat came up with the idea as a teenager eight decrease alcohol use. years ago, on a diving trip off use caution driving or operating machinery. the coast of greece. he was horrified by how much tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems. plastic he saw in the water, the most common side effect is nausea. and began collecting and quit smoking slow turkey. analyzing it, and thinking of talk to your doctor about chantix. ways to clean it up. >> slat: once, there was a stone age, a bronze age. and this is a real person named mackenzie book. and now we are in the middle of hi, i'm mac book. the plastic age. so mac, which laptop lasts longer? >> alfonsi: he laid out his vision to clean up the ocean at a ted-x talk when he was 18. surface laptop lasts longer. hmm, interesting. it went viral, and a self-styled and which one's faster? "savior of the seas" was born. this one's faster. really? amazing. which one has a better touchscreen? >> slat: we can now actually clean up 50% of the patch in the surface has a better touchscreen. because it actually has a touchscreen. just five years' time. oh, right. macs don't have touchscreens. ( chee

you should get a surface. trust me, i'm mac book. >> alfonsi: a slick, silicon valley-style roadshow followed, well, there you have it. mac book says, "get a surface." and slat raised more than $30 million for his ocean cleanup-- money he used to market his message and carry out research, including an aerial survey to map the great pacific garbage patch. for the past five years, a team of engineers and scientists had been feverishly modeling, testing and revising slat's idea. but can technology solve a complicated problem like this? >> slat: i think it's pretty much the only thing that ever has. thanks to human ingenuity and the human ability to work together, we do have a good shot at solving it. >> alfonsi: ingenuity? well, maybe. but for many researchers, it was downright fanciful, given that eight million tons of newplastin every year, mostly from placesse in the human brain, billions of nefor people with parkinson's,

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captioning funded by cbs on "big brother," the six shooters alliance had a bad breakup. >> i know where i stand going forward and i am honestly upset by it. that's all. >> all right. okay. >> announcer: but tommy hoped to get the gang back together. >> to be honest with you, on a game level, i think we all need each other. >> unfortunately, there was too much bad blood between christie and michie. >> this isn't christie's group. this isn't her alliance. this isn't her "big brother." there is no group. there is no alliance. i'm not going to do it anymore. >> announcer: after tommy put two of cliff's angels on the block -- >> i have nominated you cliff and you kathryn.