Bottled water is up to 100 times worse than previously thought

Bottled water is up to 100 times worse than previously thought

Published 11.01.2024 | By Йосиф

Bottled water is up to 100 times worse than previously thought

According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bottled water is up to 100 times worse than previously thought when it comes to the number of tiny pieces of plastic it contains. Using a newly invented technique, scientists counted an average of 240,000 detectable fragments of plastic per liter of water in popular brands – between 10 and 100 times higher than previous estimates, raising potential health concerns that warrant further study.

“If people are concerned about nanoplastics in bottled water, it is reasonable to consider alternatives such as tap water,” Beizhan Yan, associate professor of geochemistry at Columbia University and co-author of the paper, told AFP.

“We do not advise against drinking bottled water when necessary, as the risk of dehydration may outweigh the potential effects of exposure to nanoplastics,” he added.

In recent years, there has been growing global attention to microplastics, which are detached from larger sources of plastic and are now found everywhere from polar ice caps to mountaintops, spreading through ecosystems and ending up in drinking water and food.

While microplastics are less than 5 millimeters in size, nanoplastics are defined as particles less than 1 micrometer, or billionths of a meter in size – so small that they can pass through the digestive system and lungs, enter the bloodstream directly and from there into organs. including the brain and heart. They can also cross the placenta and enter the body of unborn babies. Studies of their effects on ecosystems and human health are limited, although some early laboratory studies have linked them to toxic effects, including reproductive abnormalities and stomach problems.

To study the nanoparticles in the bottled water, the team used a technique called stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, which was recently invented by one of the paper’s co-authors, and works by examining the samples with two lasers tuned to make certain molecules to resonate, revealing what they are to a computer algorithm.

They tested three leading brands, but chose not to name them, “because we believe that all bottled waters contain nanoplastics, so highlighting three popular brands may be considered unfair,” Yan said, as quoted by BGNES. The results showed between 110,000 and 370,000 particles per liter, 90% of which were nanoplastics and the rest microplastics.

The most common type was nylon – which probably comes from the plastic filters used to purify water, followed by polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, which the bottles themselves are made of and which washes away when the bottle is squeezed. Other types of plastic end up in the water when the cap is opened and closed.
Bozhidara Naydenova

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