People who drink bottled water every day ingest 90,000 more microplastic particles per year than people who drink tap water, according to a new study. Lead author Sarah Sajedi warns that plastic bottles should be used only in an emergency and not every day<\/p>\n
\u201cDrinking water from plastic bottles is fine in an emergency, but it is not something that should be used in daily life,\u201d\u00a0warns\u00a0Sarah\u00a0Sajedi, the cofounder of an environmental software company and lead author of the review published in the\u00a0\u00a0Journal of Hazardous Materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sajedi\u2019s crusade against single-use plastic bottles started after she visited Thailand\u2019s Phi Phi Island. While she was enamoured by the beauty of the Arabian Sea, what dismayed her was the plastic waste, mostly bottles, dotting the white beaches, according to a report in Wired.\u00a0Having worked with matters concerning the environment, Sajedi\u00a0realised that consumption was at the centre of his problem and decided to\u00a0take a deep dive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADLead author Sarah Sajedi warns that plastic bottles should be used only in emergencies and not daily.<\/p>\n
As a doctoral student at\u00a0Canada\u2019s\u00a0Concordia University,\u00a0Sajedi,\u00a0along with a team of researchers,\u00a0reviewed\u00a0more than 140 scientific papers to assess the effects of plastic bottles on the human body.\u00a0The findings were startling.\u00a0Daily consumers of water from plastic bottles ingested\u00a0over 90,000 more microplastic particles than those who drank tap water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The study\u00a0characterised\u00a0single-use plastic water bottles as\u00a0\u201cserious and understudied\u201d\u00a0and outlined the\u00a0health risks posed by\u00a0them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Drinking bottled water exposes you to 90,000 microplastics a year\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
The study\u00a0finds\u00a0that people consume an estimated 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles\u00a0yearly\u00a0from food and drinking water. However, individuals who rely more on bottled water are exposed to 90,000 microplastics per year,\u00a0as compared to\u00a0those\u00a0drinking\u00a0tap water, who ingest 4,000\u00a0microplastics.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Drinking water in plastic bottles\u00a0contains\u00a0countless particles that are too small to see. According to\u00a0the\u00a0analysis\u00a0by\u00a0Concordia University\u00a0researchers, these microplastics vary in size, ranging from one micron (a thousandth of a millimetre) to five millimetres.\u00a0Nanoplastics\u00a0are even smaller, measuring less than one micron.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The research\u00a0indicates\u00a0that\u00a0microplastics are released at various stages of the bottle\u2019s life cycle, including manufacturing, storage, and transportation. Because several bottles are made from low-grade plastic, they shed particles when exposed to sunlight.\u00a0Temperature changes\u00a0also accelerate this process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How harmful are microplastics?\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0the researchers,\u00a0the\u00a0potential health effects\u00a0of\u00a0ingesting microplastics \u201ccan be severe\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Microplastics\u00a0are known to enter the bloodstream and reach vital organs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The presence of\u00a0these\u00a0plastics can disrupt hormones.\u00a0They\u00a0can also lead to chronic inflammation, cellular oxidative stress, neurological damage, reproductive issues and even some cancers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe review highlights the chronic health issues linked to exposure to nano- and microplastics, including respiratory diseases, reproductive issues, neurotoxicity, and carcinogenicity,\u201d researchers wrote.<\/p>\n
However, the long-term impacts of micro- and\u00a0nanoplastics\u00a0remain unclear due to limited testing and the absence of standardised methods for their\u00a0detection and tracking.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADCan microplastics be measured?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The analysis\u00a0identifies\u00a0multiple methods for detecting nano- and microplastics, each with limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Sajedi, some approaches can detect small particles; however, they cannot reveal their chemical makeup. Others can\u00a0identify\u00a0the material\u00a0composition, but\u00a0miss the tiniest particles.\u00a0Appropriate and reliable tools are often expensive and not widely available.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Should we stop using plastic bottles?<\/p>\n
Researchers warn against the use of plastic water bottles, emphasising the need to transition from single-use plastics to more sustainable and accessible options.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAddressing public access to safe drinking water and improving water infrastructure are vital in reducing reliance on single-use plastics,\u201d the review noted, according to a report in\u00a0\u00a0The Independent.<\/p>\n
Sajedi believes that education is the most effective preventive measure. \u201cEducation is the most important action we can take,\u201d\u00a0she was quoted as saying by\u00a0\u00a0SciTechDaily,\u00a0\u00a0adding\u00a0that drinking from plastic bottles should be avoided daily. \u201cPeople need to understand that the issue is not acute toxicity\u2014it is chronic toxicity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also noted\u00a0that governments worldwide are enacting legislation to limit plastic waste, but regulations are confined primarily to items such as plastic bags, straws, and packaging materials.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0clear as water then.\u00a0Plastic\u00a0bottles are a public health hazard.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0time to ditch them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
With inputs from agencies\u00a0<\/p>\n
Home<\/a>Health<\/a>Do you drink water from plastic bottles? Here\u2019s why you should ditch themEnd of Article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People who drink bottled water every day ingest 90,000 more microplastic particles per year than people who drink…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,127399,127400,3353,111,139,69,94335,40556,147,127398],"class_list":{"0":"post-209087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-is-drinking-from-plastic-bottles-bad","10":"tag-microplastic-particles","11":"tag-microplastics","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-plastic-bottles","16":"tag-plastic-water-bottles","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-water-bottles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}