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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

#211

Post by nomel »

cortesoft wrote: post #197
lukaa wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For practical purpose does it matter? It detects non-water particles(pollution) in twice higher ratio than in tap water and plastic bottled water is sold as way purer than tap water with 1000 time higher price. Basically it's scam.

Plastic bottled water is not bought because it is higher quality. People buy it because it comes in a disposable container.

I buy 2.5 gallon plastic jugs of water from the store. It tastes much better than the many "fill" services/stations around the city that exist because this cities water tastes absolutely terrible, and that's what they're filtering.

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

#212

Post by jdnenej »

FranOntanaya wrote: post #100
HanayamaTriplet wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a WHO study published just last month[0] which did not find any dangers associated with microplastics in drinking water. One of the conclusions mirrors your reasoning: "Although it is not possible to draw any firm conclusion on toxicity related to the physical hazard of plastic particles, particularly the nano size particles through drinking-water exposure, no reliable information suggests it is a concern.…

What's the control group though. Where do you find a good sample of people not exposed to them.

There is none. Microplastics are in absolutely everything now. They recently found plastic in falling snow.

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

#213

Post by ChuckMcM »

groby_b wrote: post #62
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.

Well, for microplastics. If you live e.g. in the Bay Area, your tap water instead has a good chance of having a good helping of hexavalent chromium[1], which... not too healthy. (Neither are arsenic, bromium, etc.) Pick your poison. Literally. [1] https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tap-water-Bay-Area-datab...

I think that is overly alarmist. These guys: https://torrentlab.com/drinking-and-storm-water-quality-test... make it easy to get a water test done.

If you're worried about chromium 6 (hexavalent chromium) install a reverse osmosis filter.

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

#214

Post by hu3 »

JohnFen wrote: post #209
cortesoft wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastic bottled water is not bought because it is higher quality. People buy it because it comes in a disposable container.

I know lots of people who buy it because they believe it's higher quality. They don't care about the container.

That would be me and my family over the last decade.

We buy bottled water hoping it would benefit our health over tap water.

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

#215

Post by JohnFen »

hu3 wrote: post #214
JohnFen wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know lots of people who buy it because they believe it's higher quality. They don't care about the container.

That would be me and my family over the last decade. We buy bottled water hoping it would benefit our health over tap water.

The tap water in the vast majority of the US is superior to bottled water.

There are exceptions, though, so if health is your concern, you might want to test both your tap and bottled water.

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

#216

Post by AndrewUnmuted »

notatoad wrote: post #53
nickjj wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why Poland Spring isn't in that list.

Poland Spring is a Nestle brand only sold in the USA. Nestle-branded bottled water was tested.

Poland Spring is a subsidiary of Nestle, but it is produced and bottled in Poland, Maine and has its own distinct water sources. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland_Spring

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

#217

Post by chiefalchemist »

cortesoft wrote: post #197
lukaa wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For practical purpose does it matter? It detects non-water particles(pollution) in twice higher ratio than in tap water and plastic bottled water is sold as way purer than tap water with 1000 time higher price. Basically it's scam.

Plastic bottled water is not bought because it is higher quality. People buy it because it comes in a disposable container.

I live in central NJ. I buy bottled water because we notification about the local "city water" having some issue or another. I'd use tap water if it was safe.

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

#218

Post by samcheng »

Moru wrote: post #186
Isamu wrote: post #4

It's good to see the honest qualifications in the article: >Mason's team was able to identify specific plastics over 100 microns (0.10 mm) in size but not smaller particles. According to experts contacted by CBC News, there is a chance the Nile Red dye is adhering to another unknown substance other than plastic. >Mason leaves open that possibility but leans strongly to the smaller particles being plastic. >The develo…

Just another personal anekdote: A friend bought a water destiller because of some health-theories. You are supposed to drink distilled water in the morning and so on... He is usually using it on tap water because he believes the water isn't pure enough (Germany, should be pure enough). One day he figured he could try the bottled water, maybe less build up of chalk in the sistern. This area has a lot of chalk in the g…

Distilled water, particularly if heated, is dangerous to drink, according to some chemists I know.

The concept is that the ultra-pure water leaches potentially harmful ions from its surroundings, for example chromium from stainless steel fixtures. Better to drink some harmless sodium and chlorine ions.

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

#219

Post by mastazi »

thelittleone wrote: post #203
cortesoft wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastic bottled water is not bought because it is higher quality. People buy it because it comes in a disposable container.

In Bali, Indonesia (and many developing countries) you have no choice. Drinking tap water is also health hazard in some countries.

In Bali, Thailand and many other places in SE Asia, you can get water that comes from local treatment plants (it usually looks like this[1]) instead of "brand" bottled water (like these ones[2]), the former is almost always bottled locally (at the nearest water treatment plant, they are ubiquitous in SE Asia even in regional areas, sometimes they are subsidised by governments), as a result the water tends to stay in the bottle for a much shorter time whereas "brand" water is not sourced locally and it travels long distances after being bottled. In addition the employees of the local water treatment plant will often come and take back empty bottles to use them again, so in those cases you have nearly 100% recycling and very little plastic waste.

I don't have any evidence that [1] contains less microplastics than [2] unfortunately, but I think it could be the case.

(I have lived in Indonesia for about one year and part of my family is from Thailand).

[1] http://www.nomad4ever.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/bottle_...

[2] https://www.bali.com/media/image/865/plastic-bottles-waste.j...

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

#220

Post by thelittleone »

Scoundreller wrote: post #208
thelittleone wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Bali, Indonesia (and many developing countries) you have no choice. Drinking tap water is also health hazard in some countries.

Depending on what the hazard is, disinfection tablets can be effective and much cheaper than buying water. Or SODIS sunlight disinfection.

Haven’t tried those tabs for many years but I recall them tasting terrible. Good for emergencies perhaps.

Filtration systems are available but cost several thousand dollars and require core replacements every two years for around $300-400.

On the other hand, a gallon of potable water from one of the few springs in Bali costs around $3.

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