FOOD NEWS
What You Need To Know About Microplastics In Bottled Water
BY AUTUMN SWIERS
Recent research from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health reveals that bottled water contains 10 to 100 times more microplastics than previously believed.
Using advanced microscopy, the study found an average of 240,000 plastic fragments per liter, mostly nanoplastics smaller than a micrometer that can enter the blood and organs.
This means that a 2018 study that arrived at a number closer to 325 microplastic fragments per liter was off by literally hundreds of thousands.
Microplastics can pass into blood, brain, and cells, and have been found in human blood, excrement, lungs, and placenta in addition to soil, drinking water, food, and polar ice.
Beyond their presence in human tissue, effects remain largely unknown. Scientists are exploring the potential toxicity of microplastics, but it's a fairly new topic of research.
Disturbingly, it's yet unknown how or if microplastics leave the body once they enter.
The International Bottled Water Association released a statement to quell the public's fears.
On January 8, 2024, they insisted that, until conclusive data is found, "media reports about these particles in drinking water do nothing more than unnecessarily scare consumers."