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Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

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Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#111

Post by jquery »

windexh8er wrote: post #28
yumraj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't include Kirkland, the Costco brand :(

I have family that buys the Costco brand and of many of the plastics it seems very thin / flimsy compared to some of the more expensive brands. I'd be surprised if it weren't comparable to some of the higher leaching bottles just based on feel and cost. I've always been curious about plastic milk containers vs Tetra Paks as well. Beyond bottled water there are so many other liquids consumed out of plastics I feel as…

I refused to buy the Costco brand because of this while my wife was pregnant and only drank bottled water. The bottles felt too cheap. Ended up getting a brand with more sturdy bottles (no idea if they were actually safer, but all things being equal I went with the product that didn't seem like it was cutting as many corners).

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#112

Post by copperx »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #30
marcell wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a lot of logical leaps your making hear. It might not be immediately deadly, but it could have lots of long term subtle effects. For example, it may contribute to cancer rates or obesity. Some people suspect it contributes to low sperm counts among men. All of these would be consistent with the current widespread consumption patterns.

>long term subtle effects The longer term, and subtler the effect is, the safer a substance is. My educated guess is that microplastics are going to cause a lot fewer human deaths and ingury than any of the following natural stuff: Bees, coffee (see acrylamide), peanuts, mosquitoes, arsenic, mushrooms, and bodies of water.

What's dangerous about peanuts and store-bought mushrooms?

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#113

Post by papito »

ggregoire wrote: post #97
sarnowski wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living in Germany/Berlin and can confirm. Our tap water is excellent and is way cleaner than all bottled water you can buy. Keep in mind, bottled water is also kept around way longer and has the time to „breed“. In tests, the tap water is consistently less contaminated. I recommend everyone to just stick to it. As an anecdote: you can let your tap water be tested for free if you have a newborn to ensure and confirm t…

> you can let your tap water be tested for free if you have a newborn to ensure and confirm that you can use it for baby food without doubt. Without doubt? We just found out that they are microplastics in bottled water, how can you be sure there aren't things in tap water that we haven't discovered yet?

There is microshrimp in NYC water. We love it.

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#114

Post by Cytobit »

notadoc wrote: post #46
redm wrote: post #34

Distilled water and glass bottles are the way to go. You can get a small distiller for your home relatively cheaply.

Are you concerned about electrolyte imbalance with drinking distilled water?

I've often heard that drinking distilled water is bad due to it leaching minerals/electrolytes. Has anyone done the math on this to either validate or debunk this?

A 16oz bottle of San Pellegrino has 20mg of sodium. How can such a small difference in sodium intake (and other minerals) have a meaningful influence on electrolyte levels?

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#115

Post by baxtr »

40four wrote: post #33

I was curious if the micro-plastics could be coming from the bottles they are packaged in. The article says... It's not clear how the plastic is getting into the bottled water — whether it's the water source itself or the air or the manufacturing and bottling process. "Even the simple act of opening the cap could cause plastic to be chipping off the cap," Mason said. I think it's easy to assume it's from the water so…

Makes me wonder how much plastic kids eat when they eat with plastic spoons

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#116

Post by djsumdog »

slowmovintarget wrote: post #25

Went looking to see what the comparison to tap water was: > Orb found on average there were 10.4 particles of plastic per litre that were 100 microns (0.10 mm) or bigger. This is double the level of microplastics in the tap water tested from more than a dozen countries across five continents, examined in a 2017 study by Orb that looked at similar-sized plastics. Worse... it's worse than tap water.

Tap water in the developed world is really really good. You can measure a country by the ability of that nation to provide clean water to people. Municipal water supplies in cities like Atlanta and Cincinnati are often tested 200~300 times per month at several pumping and maintenance locations. Bottled water is a scam, and it also is a resources that's often extracted from poor countries and communities.

The documentary Tapped and Blue Gold both go into all the screwed up thing the bottle water industry does. For countries without clean water, bottled water is not the solution. Better municipal water, more wells and cheaper, low energy water purification around those wells is a much more sustainable solution.

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#117

Post by longtom »

Richard_East wrote: post #105
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #7

I wonder if all the articles talking about the prevalence of microplastics, are in actuality demonstrating the safety of microplastics. If it is in 93% of bottled water, and bottled water is used by millions of people (according to https://www.consumerreports.org/bottled-water/should-we-brea... around 110 Million people in the US avoid drinking tap water), then there has been widespread exposure to microplastics. It…

"From 1973 to 2011, there was a decline of more than 50 percent in sperm counts among men living in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand." "The researchers said that they cannot determine from their data what might have caused the decline, but it could be related to environmental or lifestyle factors." https://www.livescience.com/59948-sperm-count-drop-western-m...

A link has been found to some household chemicals (diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PCB153)) affecting dogs:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/fertility-problems...

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#118

Post by copperx »

claytoneast wrote: post #91
redm wrote: post #34

Distilled water and glass bottles are the way to go. You can get a small distiller for your home relatively cheaply.

If the microplastics are coming from the water source (not from the actual bottling, wherever the water is coming from, it already has microplastics in it) then this wouldn't do anything, right? Or is there a way to heat the water/steam to such a high temperature that the microplastics "melt" out of it?

The idea is that microplastics don't become vapor. Which seems more than plausible.

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#119

Post by lostlogin »

notadoc wrote: post #50
40four wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, I'm curious is some of the outliers at the high end were from older bottles that had been on the shelf longer.

Or perhaps if they were exposed to heat, oxidation, or physical stress even (dropped, squeezed, overly pressurized)

> overly pressurised

It would be interesting to compare carbonated versus uncarbonated.

Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study

#120

Post by forgotmypw3 »

Isn't most bottled water bottled in plastic?

The bottle is plastic. The lid is plastic too.

When you're opening the bottle, plastic is rubbing against plastic, and then water is pouring over it.

Even glass-bottles typically have a lid that has a plastic sealing layer inside.

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