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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

#321

Post by GeneralTspoon »

molmalo wrote: post #262
GeneralTspoon wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He did say that he thinks the idea that bottled water is a human right is “extreme”, and that he doesn’t believe it should be. Full quote: > “Water is, of course, the most important raw material we have today in the world. It’s a question of whether we should privatize the normal water supply for the population. And there are two different opinions on the matter. The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represen…

>He did say that he thinks the idea that bottled water is a human right is “extreme”, and that he doesn’t believe it should be. No, he is not saying bottled water . He is saying water plain and simple. Any water. "That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution." So, for him, having access to water (any water) is not a human right. If some people can not afford to pay for…

Whoops - yeah sorry, the "bottled" in that sentence is a mistake. It was late :)

Fully agree with your comment!

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

#322

Post by nabla9 »

sdfmmkmsdfmk wrote: post #314
onion2k wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bottled water is produced close to where it's sold. The issue is in countries where the water bottling plant takes up lots of the available local water so the poorer citizens can't access it, and they can't afford the bottled water either. This means they don't have access to any clean water. One of Nestle's recent CEOs actually went on record to say say he didn't believe access to clean water should be a human r…

It shouldn't be a human right. It doesn't make sense. TO say it is a human right would mean if somebody would build a hut in the desert, the world would have to build a water pipeline for them. That would be very ineffective. I only know about Nestle, there often is the story about them supposedly depleting water in dry regions (I think Afghanistan or Pakistan). But if you look it up, they take the water from a very…

> TO say it is a human right would mean if somebody would build a hut in the desert,

You use the most idiotic interpretation you can imagine and then stating it as a fact. I'm sure that you are not doing this in bad faith, but your thinking is missing basic common sense that cripples you ability to understand society. Human right to water and sanitation (HRWS) is very reasonable right. It means that HRWS rules over other concerns in legal disputes and affects policy priorities.

This paper has real world legal cases and interpretations: https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/pdf/human_right_to_wat...

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

#323

Post by jagannathtech »

cortesoft wrote: post #201
linuxftw wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world is full of chemicals right now. One day, humanity will look back at the last 100 years (and probably the next 50) and wonder what we were thinking.

The world is made up of ONLY chemicals, now and forever

That's just pedantic. It is implied that the issue is 'synthetic chemicals'

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

#324

Post by klarrimore »

hanspeter wrote: post #318
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.

> bottled water is sold as way purer than tap water Do you have a source for that? Is it not just the prevalent belief among consumers?

There's relatively short list of countries that can even drink tap water.

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

#326

Post by bilbo0s »

kccqzy wrote: post #296
bonoboTP wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of glass bottled water too, at least in Germany.

And plenty of aluminum cans of water as well, not to mention aluminum recycling is perhaps the most implemented recycling effort of any materials.

I'm not really sure how much glass or aluminum containers would matter to the fundamental point?

The plant that purifies the water and puts it into the glass and aluminum containers almost certainly uses plastic or rubber tubing in its machinery. So you'd likely get some plastic particles transferred there as well. In the end, I'd be willing to bet that tap water has fewer micro plastics than water bottled in glass or aluminum.

Problem, of course, is that your municipality likely uses some form of metal piping to get water to your tap. Which, depending on what all that is, could mean elevated lead levels etc.

It's a tough problem.

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

#327

Post by nosianu2 »

ant6n wrote: post #299
bonoboTP wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of glass bottled water too, at least in Germany.

(that's carbonated water in glass bottles)

Since the parent comment says "Germany" I can say with confidence: We have both, so that qualifier is not true unless you specifically buy exactly carbonated water. It is true though that for whatever reason that I just cannot comprehend the majority of water sold in bottles in this country (Germany) is carbonated. nor can I understand why so much of it is sold - tap water is very good in most places. I know a water engineer at the local municipal water company and she too only drinks tap water. On the other hand so many Germans are extremely fixated on price, it's even more incomprehensible how irrational it is that my fellow Germans buy so much bottled water. I googled for "why do Germans buy bottled water instead of tap water" and unsurprisingly found that I'm not the first one to ask that question (first link of several, as an example, which sums it up pretty well: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/10661118/Why-do-...).

Oh and if somebody asks about "but what about chlorinated tap water" - that is less common in Germany. I cannot detect anything but "water" in the places I visit in various German states. Anyone concerned about such things can get a water filter, they are plentiful in supermarkets, mostly these types: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/31/ed/ff/31edff1af777601ac16d33292...

The website of my own municipal water company (of a large Bavarian city) says water is chlorinated only when it is absolutely necessary, and that if they do it they will also stop as soon as possible. So that is a temporary measure when something happened but not usually done.

We (in Germany) do have a nitrate problem in a lot of places. We even got reprimanded by the EU about that only recently. The reason is agriculture, of course. (https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/eu-cl...)

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

#328

Post by nosianu2 »

cordite wrote: post #254
smhost wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we should start calling bottled water "plastic water"

Is microplastics what give cheap water bottles that particular off-flavor?

Not necessarily. I doubt you could taste particles, unless they are truly molecule-sized nano to be able to bind to taste receptors? I think you need molecules. Which plastic bottles, depending on the exact kind of plastic and how it was manufactured, may have plenty of - it's not just the ideal "plastic" material, the carbon chains, but plenty of other kinds of molecules dissolved in between. In text books the different kinds of plastic are always represented with the main molecule - but not just is there no such thing as a 100% pure substance in a real-world manufacturing process, in addition all kinds of other molecules are added deliberately - temporarily during a manufacturing step or to become part of the final product - to modify the physical properties of the substance. So even the same kind of plastic can contain very different kinds of other substances depending on who made it when and where.

https://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134196209/study-most-plastics...

https://www.thoughtco.com/reusing-plastic-bottles-serious-he...

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

#329

Post by crashbunny »

lukaa wrote: post #131
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…

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.

Does it matter if the non-water particles aren't plastic? It might, if we evolved while drinking water with the same non-water particles then they should be fine. If the non-water particles only turned up recently, like microplastics, then whether it will affect our health is unknown until some studies are done.

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

#330

Post by cortesoft »

jagannathtech wrote: post #323
cortesoft wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world is made up of ONLY chemicals, now and forever

That's just pedantic. It is implied that the issue is 'synthetic chemicals'

That is still an overly broad category to be worried about in general... just because something is synthetic doesn't mean it is more or less dangerous than a non-synthetic thing.
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