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Was there some sort of scientific breakthrough that has allowed researchers to find these microplastics for the first time, or is it just that nobody had looked yet?
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…
Lots of people smoke cigarettes, and only incur negative health consequences 20+ years down the line. That doesn't mean that cigarettes are probably pretty safe for humans.
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.
In at least a couple of European countries it is well known that unless your city has specific problems tap water is better than bottled water. The reason being that (except some cases of corruption...) legal limit are much stricter for tap water. Better in impurities at the very least, the taste is usually quite worse.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This also makes sense to me since San Pellegrino has the lowest profile, and often comes in glass. No mention of which variant(s) (glass, plastic, both?) were tested, right? (or I haven't been able to find the statement)
I didn't notice any mention. Just a guess though, I've seen S. Pellegrino in plastic so it's possible theirs were.
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.
In at least a couple of European countries it is well known that unless your city has specific problems tap water is better than bottled water. The reason being that (except some cases of corruption...) legal limit are much stricter for tap water. Better in impurities at the very least, the taste is usually quite worse.
As an anecdote: 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.
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.
That means all life is going to become more and more exposed to microplastics as more and more breaks down. Sure, maybe it'll be not be so bad for a random human but what happens when this stuff starts getting into single cell and small organisms where it is in far greater concentrations?
What happens when phytoplankton, or zooplankton start getting a lot in them and it negatively impacts them? Do you get a collapse of an ecosystem?
What happens when pollinators like bees start getting large concentrations in them?
What happens as it accumulates in soil to the hundreds-to-thousands of species that are found in the first couple of inches of an average square meter of soil?
And here's the real problem... the plastic is already out there, it will break down into smaller and smaller pieces and if we entirely outlawed plastic today and no more was ever made in human history, the number of microplastic pieces would continue to grow for quite a long time before leveling off and then would appear to start vanishing as the pieces just got small enough to avoid detection via affordable methods.
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…
I assumed that they were talking about from the bottle itself.
This is a 2018 article, just in case it isn't evident for anyone. The fact remains, though, and it is probably worse a year after.
How would it be worse?