Bottled water contain microplastics, says report

The scientists wrote they had “found roughly twice as many plastic particles within bottled water” compared with their previous study of tap water.

A damning new study has revealed leading brands of water bottles are contaminated with tiny plastic particles.

To test the invisible plastic in bottled water, the team used a special dye, an infrared laser and a blue light.

The plastic debris included polypropylene, nylon and polyethylene terephthalate, that is used to make bottle caps.

How ingesting plastics affects humans is still not 100 percent certain as this is an emergent field of study, according to the National Institutes of Health. The site said many responded by defending their brand, questioning the study’s methodology and affirming that there were no regulations on microplastics in bottled water.

You already know how bad plastic bottles are for the planet. Even smaller particles were more common – averaging about 325 a litre. Only 17 individual bottles “showed no microplastic contamination in excess of possible laboratory background”, said the study. “Some bottles had thousands”.

“Since the problem of plastic was created exclusively by human beings through our indifference, it can be solved by human beings by paying attention to it”, said Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in the report. The most secure way to consume water, he said, is tap water with the right filters.

Mason said that because the water bottles being studied hadn’t been reused, it’s unlikely the bottle itself was disintegrating (although some could be breaking off the cap and entering the bottle when opened). But plastic bottled water drinkers have it worse.

The Dubai Municipality implements safety measures and inspections on groceries, supermarkets and food entities.

Around 480 billion disposable plastic drink bottles are bought every year, and it’s estimated fewer than half of them are recycled.

“Microplastics are present in the environment, both on land and in water, therefore some presence in food is likely, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that this presence is harmful”.

The research has not been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.

Companies contacted by the BBC insisted their products met the highest standards for safety and quality. Some bottles had effectively zero plastic.

She suggested using metallic or stainless steel bottles that cool the water during warm temperature and could be refilled.

Describing microplastic as a “very challenging emerging contaminant”, Heather Leslie Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology expert at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam likens plastics and the chemicals in them to a bowl of spaghetti in which the noodles are the polymer chains, and chemical additives the sauce in between them.

Bottled water manufacturers emphasised their products met all government requirements.

However, some researchers don’t think consuming plastic is a serious health issue.