What goes up must come down: Helium balloons can hurt wildlife By How Stuff Works, adapted by Newsela staff on 04.19.18 Word Count 593 Level 820L Image 1. Balloons are released as part of a vigil ceremony in Britain in May 2017. Photo from: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images. Release a helium balloon on a bright, sunny day. Watch it magically float up into the sky. You probably feel some form of joy and delight, a sense of wonder, maybe even a longing for freedom. It's like a 21-gun salute, but quieter. It's like a Chinese Sky Lantern ceremony, but for the daytime. People release big bunches of balloons for memorial services, grand openings, birthday parties and graduations. It's something humans love to do, and it's fun. But it's also really terrible for the environment, scientists say. Balloons Always Come Back To Earth When a balloon floats to the heavens, it doesn't end up on Jupiter. You know this, of course. A helium balloon can rise to altitudes of five miles into the atmosphere, but it always comes back to Earth. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1 Once balloons return, they can cause damage. Most helium balloons are made of latex, a stretchy form of rubber. Once done with flying, these little scraps of latex might end up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This floating raft of ocean trash is now twice the size of Texas. The balloon could get tangled up in the flippers of a sea turtle. It might also be eaten by a turtle that mistakes it for a jellyfish. On land, a bighorn sheep could confuse a balloon for an edible plant. It might land in some farmer's pasture, where a cow chokes on the string. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, animals of the land, sea and air are equally likely to mistake deflated balloons for food. They can also get tangled up and strangled by the ribbon attached to a balloon. Latex Balloons Slow To Decay Some balloons do break down eventually. One big reason releasing balloons is permitted in many places is that latex balloons are technically biodegradable. Things that are biodegradable decay, or break down, over time. Natural forces cause them to fall apart. Latex balloons are slow to decay, though. They take between six months and four years to break down completely. Plus, this stretchy rubber lasts much longer in seawater than it does on land. Mylar balloons are even worse. These balloons are made out of NASA-grade nylon. They are not biodegradable, so they can last forever in the environment. Laws Against Releasing Balloons If balloons in the environment are so bad, why isn't releasing them against the law? In many states and cities, it is. A few places in the United Kingdom and Australia have banned the release of balloons of all kinds. In the United States, California, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia have put an end to balloon releases. Some cities, such as Louisville, Kentucky, and Huntsville, Alabama, have done the same. But helium balloons don't care about borders. They fly wherever they fly. They land wherever they land. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2 Hundreds of balloons lifting slowly into the wild blue yonder might give you a warm, happy feeling. But is a balloon launch at your party worth causing the sickness and deaths of many animals, filling beaches with trash? Most people would say: Absolutely not! Running Out Of Helium The problem might soon solve itself another way. The world seems to be running out of helium. Scientists estimate humans might use up this non-renewable gas in the next 30 years. Turtles, birds and other wildlife might have a reason to throw their own big party. They would certainly skip the balloons, though. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3.