a study surveying several brands in nine different countries has found that 90% of plastic bottles of water also contain microplastics.
concentrations of up to 10,000 plastic pieces including polypropylene, polystyrene, nylon or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were found in every litre of water with very few bottles free of plastic altogether, according to the study.
scientists based at the state university of new york in fredonia were commissioned by journalism project orb media to analyse the bottled water.
the study found microplastics in 90 percent of 259 bottles of water tested.
the list of brands tested included aqua (danone), aquafina (pepsico), bisleri (bisleri international), dasani (coca-cola), epura (pepsico), evian (danone), gerolsteiner (gerolsteiner brunnen), minalba (grupo edson queiroz), nestlé pure life (nestlé), san pellegrino (nestlé) and wahaha (hangzhou wahaha group).
nestlè has since told CBS news Nestlé that the nile red dye-method of testing test the water could ‘generate false positives’.
according to the guardian, the world health organisation (WHO) has announced a review into the potential risks of plastic in drinking water following the report.
although the effects on humans from ingesting plastic are not 100 percent certain humans is still not 100 percent certain and is still an emerging area of study, a 2017 report notes: ‘if inhaled or ingested, microplastics may accumulate and exert localized particle toxicity by inducing or enhancing an immune response.
chemical toxicity could occur due to the localized leaching of component monomers, endogenous additives, and adsorbed environmental pollutants.
chronic exposure is anticipated to be of greater concern due to the accumulative effect that could occur.’